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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22695928">The End of the Force</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaz360/pseuds/shaz360'>shaz360</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dark, Death, Fix-It, Gritty, Multi, Original Character(s), Plot Twists, Romance, War, no one is safe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 10:49:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>43,988</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22695928</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaz360/pseuds/shaz360</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The final battle between light and dark nears. Rey and Kylo must confront each other one last time and decide the fate of the galaxy.</p><p>Kylo Ren rules as Supreme Leader. Tormented by past deeds and new distractions, he struggles to stay true to his dark plan. Meanwhile, Rey trains her new Jedi Order in hiding, evading the sinister Knights of Ren.<br/>When General Organa sends Resistance heroes Poe Dameron, Finn and Rose Tico on a dangerous mission to turn the tides of the war against the First Order, Rey and Kylo will be thrust into dire situations which will test their resolve and push them towards their final confrontation.</p><p>The End of the Force is a dark story which seeks to wrap up the Sequel trilogy in a satisfying way, and also give a meaningful conclusion to the Skywalker saga as a whole. </p><p>Complete (last chapter is just a synopsis due to technical difficulties)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kylo Ren/Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Force was alive and raging like a storm. Rey stood atop a cliff overlooking a valley where a strange battle was taking place. </p><p>The valley was filled with dense flora divided into two opposing sides. One side a vibrant green whilst the other side was a sickly red. Both sides pushed against each other, vying for dominance. Red invaded the green with sharp arthritic branches, uprooting trees and shredding leaves. The green just grew back the damage, negating the assaults of the red and keeping the battle at a stalemate. The chaos was illuminated by flashes of forked lightning followed by roars of thunder. </p><p>The turbulent dark sky lashed down a torrent of rain. Cold droplets pattered against her skin, drenching her clothes and sending a deep chill through her body. She looked into the distance. A mountain pushed out of the valley, almost it was trying to escape from the warring flora. Rey noticed that there was some kind of structure built on the summit.. <em>A temple?</em> she thought. <em>How is it possible to live in a place like this?</em></p><p>Rey blinked.</p><p>She was inside the main hall of the temple. She didn’t know how she knew but she did. <em>What is going on?</em> thought Rey, frantically looking around for an answer.<br/>
It looked abandoned. The floors and walls were cracked and vine like growths flowed out from the openings. The plant life was similar to that which she saw outside. Green and red vines spotted the temple in clusters, writhing against each other as if bringing their battle outside into the temple.</p><p>At the end of the hall were steps leading up to a dais that held three vacant thrones. In the middle was golden high backed throne, grander than the two smaller thrones flanking it. Her eyes were drawn to the one on the right. It emitted a soft white glow which grew brighter the longer she stared at it. It was inviting her towards it. </p><p>Rey stepped closer, but then stepped back immediately. <em>No— What am I doing? What is this place?</em></p><p>‘I asked myself the same question at first,’ said a man standing next to her. </p><p>She whipped around to face him, hand going to her belt. Her lightsaber wasn’t there. Rey cursed to herself. <em>It’s broken anyway!</em></p><p>She edged backwards, maintaining a distance between herself and the strange man. At first glance she thought it was Kylo. He looked similar. He was tall, towering over Rey. She looked up at his solemn face, framed by brown wavy hair of a similar length to Kylo’s. A long scar ran over his left eye. <em>A Jedi?</em> thought Rey, noticing the similarity in his grey robes to Luke Skywalker’s own.</p><p>‘Who are you?’ she asked.</p><p>He didn’t answer. He walked forward towards a plinth standing in the center of the hall. She didn’t remember seeing that before. He picked up a black dagger resting on the plinth. ‘I’ve been here before,’ he said, examining the blade. ‘It’s different than last time—  but still, I recognise this place.’</p><p>‘What is this place? Answer me!’</p><p>After a long pause, he replaced the dagger and turned to face her. ‘I know what I have to do now. I’m sorry it has to be this way, but you must come here. You both must come here.’</p><p>‘Where?’ she said in a fading voice. Her vision blurred. She could barely make out the man’s voice as he answered her question. The world around her faded to black and she was left floating in darkness, left with only one word emblazoned into her mind. </p><p>
  <em>Mortis.</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Spooky :o</p><p>Who is the mysterious Jedi?<br/>Why does the throne call to Rey?</p><p>All will be revealed... but for now, we begin the story a year after the events of The Last Jedi (2017)</p><p>Next Chapter: What has Rey been up to for the past year?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Last Jedi (1/2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>"PART ONE: A NEW ORDER" begins...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>It was only a dream</em>, thought Rey as she recalled her sudden awakening in the morning. Her students stared at her, noticing the abrupt panic on their meditating master’s face. </p><p>She brushed sand off of her gray robes and straightened. The cold sea breeze chilled her bare arms, but despite the cold, she still brought her students here. Having the familiar feel of sand beneath her feet made her feel more comfortable. It reminded her of the simpler life she had lived on Jakku. Back when no one had looked up to her. Back when she wasn’t the last Jedi. She was just Rey.</p><p>‘Carry on,’ she said. They all returned to their task. Her twenty-eight students in total sat cross-legged on the sands, each with a fist sized rock in front of them. All they had to do was lift it. It was simple enough, or so she had thought. She soon realised that it was far from it.</p><p>Every students face was twisted in concentration at the rock. Most couldn’t even move the rock an inch, whilst only a few could levitate the rock off the ground, even then only for a few seconds.</p><p>Age wasn’t a factor in skill with the Force. Her oldest students, some years older than her, struggled just as much as the children. The ancient Jedi texts she had stolen from Ahch-To said that students were only to be taken in at young ages, but she ignored that. She didn’t have the resources of the old Jedi Order and she had to take what she could get. The First Order grew more powerful everyday and it was up to her train a new generation of Jedi to restore balance to the galaxy.</p><p>It wasn’t going very well. Her students didn’t seem to make any progress. She remembered the first time she used the Force. It was sudden. On Starkiller Base, she had summoned Luke’s lightsaber and allowed the Force to empower, giving her the strength to beat Kylo Ren. The Force had come to her in a life or death situation. It was a lot different for her students. There was no such danger for them on this calm beach. She didn’t have a clue what was the best way to teach them. </p><p>Luke would know, thought Rey. It had been a year since he gave his life to save the Resistance, but she still missed him every day. With his death, she became the last Jedi. She knew he had died entrusting the fate of the Jedi to her, so she left the Resistance, setting out across the galaxy to find Force-sensitive individuals and rebuild the Jedi Order.</p><p>So far, all she had produced was one student who was battle-ready. Nim. He was back at the camp. Making him come to the beach and lift rocks would only be a waste of his time. </p><p>
  <em>Aren’t I wasting everyone’s time?</em>
</p><p> Rey stood. She lifted her hand and every rock shot up and floated in the air, startling the students.</p><p>‘You have to understand— using the Force isn’t some muscle in the brain,’ said Rey. She looked at young Nautolan sat in the front row. ‘San, you looked as if you’re were going to burst a vein the way you were staring at that rock!’</p><p>‘I’m sorry, Master Rey. I just don’t get it,’ he replied sheepishly.</p><p>Master Rey. She still cringed whenever she heard the name. It had started with Nim. As soon as she had taken him in as her student, he refused to call her anything else. She expected that the younger students she took in would follow Nim’s lead but to her suprise the older students did too. </p><p>It had startled her when her oldest student, a grizzled Resistance veteran Katar, had also taken to reluctantly calling her master. Rey suspected Nim had had a hand in that, and she didn’t imagine it was done via a polite request. Once Nim had his heart set on something, he fought for it. A trait he must have picked up from a life in the fighting pits of the Outer Rim. </p><p>The truth was Luke was the real Jedi Master. Not her. She didn’t feel like she deserved the title, but after a while of resisting, she eventually let the name settle. Even though she disliked it, she realised it made her students feel comfortable in their new life. They were fugitives on the run from the First Order. She could at least let them have a ‘Jedi Master’ to protect them.</p><p>Rey pulled herself from her thoughts and stood to address the students. Nyla wasn’t the only one who was confused. She lifted a hand and used the Force to pull the rocks towards her, arranging them into a circle, spinning around a single rock in the center.</p><p>‘Let me put it this way. The rock in the middle is you. The circle of rocks spinning around it is the Force. Don’t think of the Force as something mysterious and alien. It’s all around you— it’s a part of every living thing,’ she said, recalling sentences she had read in the Ahch-To texts. Every lesson she taught them was from something she had found within its crumbling pages. ‘It’s a constantly flowing and ebbing energy field that permeates everything.’ </p><p>She made the rock in the middle join the others in the spinning circle. ‘All you have to do is focus and become one with it.’</p><p>They looked at her with confused faces. It was no use. She let the rocks fall to the floor. ‘That’s enough for today. Lets head back to camp,’ she said dejectedly. </p><p>The younger students sprang to their feet and turned, beginning their journey back to camp. Katar rose slower than the other and followed, mumbling under his breath. They had set up a base in some old abandoned huts a short distance away from the beach. Rey trudged after them. How could she think to be a teacher? How could she teach others how to wield the Force when she didn’t even understand how she had learned herself? </p><p>She remembered the first time she had used the Force. She had manipulated the mind of a stormtrooper somehow. The trooper surprisingly listened to her suggestion, as if under a trance, and freed her from her restraints. She didn’t know how she could learn to do it so easily. She had just… figured it out.</p><p>More questions were raised when she defeated Kylo Ren with ease in a lightsaber duel. Rey only had experience defending herself with her staff against bandits and scavengers on Jakku. She had no experience with a lightsaber but she had still managed to best someone who had trained with it for years. He had stood before her, his crimson blade fizzling in the dark, clutching his side… </p><p><em>He was injured</em>. She had forgotten he had been shot by Chewbacca, hit in the chest with a boltcaster blast, a weapon that was many times more powerful than a normal blaster. That could explain his defeat. <em>Still…</em> she thought. <em>It shouldn’t have been that easy.</em></p><p>The one thing she couldn’t explain, no matter how long she thought about it, was how she managed to lift the hundreds of heavy  boulders blocking the Resistance’s escape back on Crait. From what she had read in the Ahch-To Texts, it took years of training with the Force to be able to even attempt something so complex and difficult. Focusing on that many heavy objects at once would be near impossible for an individual who had not gone through extensive training. Why could she do things it took years for Jedi to be able to do?</p><p>A faint voice called her name. She saw a young Twi’lek girl in the distance. Nyla, the youngest of her students. The rest of her students were out of sight.</p><p>Rey cursed to herself. <em>I tell them to focus when I can’t even stay focused myself.</em></p><p>Nyla waved to her. The girl was an orphan Rey had found after a particularly vicious battle on her homeworld of Ryloth. The population had been in full rebellion and was victim to ruthless First Order military action.</p><p><em>As if there was any other kind of action from the First Order</em>, thought Rey. Nyla’s parents had died in the slaughter, leaving her to fend for herself. Ever since Rey had taken her in as a student, the girl never let Rey out of her sight. </p><p>She calmed herself, letting all her emotions fade and be replaced with the overwhelming tranquility of the Force. She let the energy flow through her body, focusing it into her legs. </p><p>One technique that was common throughout the Ahch-To Texts was using the Force to enhance physical attributes. Rey had done it before subconsciously, during times of combat and the like, but only highly skilled Jedi could actively use the technique. The method she had practiced the most was was enhancing her legs, allowing her to run faster and jump higher.</p><p>The "Force Dash technique”, she had dubbed it. So far the only student capable of learning it was Nim, but it was a good start to her teachings as the Last Jedi. </p><p>Her leg muscles felt like they were going to burst with energy. She readied herself into a sprint stance and then pushed off the floor. Sand erupted from where she had been standing as she shot forward, breaking into a sprint. Her feet pounded on the sands below as she ran, throwing up jets of grains with each impact. It was a delicate task in controlling the amount of power in each stride, too much and she would launch herself into the air. </p><p>She stopped running shortly before she reached the student and tried to slow down, skidding on the sands and throwing up a huge wave of sand in front of her. She finally came to a halt, quite a few paces ahead of the student.</p><p>Rey sighed in frustration, bending over and clutching her knees to get her breath back. <em>I’m good at running but pretty bad at stopping, maybe if I Force Push in the opposite direction as I— </em></p><p>She heard a spitting noise. Nyla stood there covered in sand from Rey’s approach, spitting out the grains that went in her mouth. </p><p>Rey rushed over and helped her brush the sand off. ‘I’m so sorry, Nyla. I didn’t mean— </p><p>The girl spat out a mouthful of sand. ‘It’s okay, Master.’</p><p>‘Why did you wait for me, Nyla? What’s the matter?’</p><p>‘Nothing,’ she replied, squinting up at Rey whilst the rays of the setting sun shone on her face.</p><p>‘Come one, little one. It’s getting late,’ said Rey, setting off in the direction of the camp. The girl ran up beside Rey and held her hand tightly. Rey smiled and clasped her fingers around her tiny hand. </p><p>‘Promise me you’ll never leave,’ said Nyla.</p><p>Rey frowned. ‘What? Nyla, of course— </p><p>‘No- my parents left. They said that they would come back, but they still left. Promise me, Master.’</p><p>Rey gently squeezed Nyla’s hand. ‘I promise, Nyla.’</p><p>They walked home together as the sun slowly sank over the horizon.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Last Jedi (2/2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was night when Rey and Nyla finally arrived home. A central campfire illuminated the stone huts that circled the camp of the new Jedi Order. When Rey and Chewbacca had first arrived on the uncharted planet, they had spotted these ruins as they flew over the area in the Millennium Falcon. It looked like it would provide good shelter.</p><p>The Falcon was parked to the side of the camp with it’s ramp lifted shut. Occasionally, Chewbacca would venture into the woods to hunt for the camp but most of the time he stayed inside the ship. Rey knew that losing two of his greatest friends, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, in such a short time had taken a toll on him. Duty had compelled him to keep moving at the time, but now that he had a chance to reflect, it had finally sunk in.</p><p>There was nothing Rey could do to help him. Her words couldn’t make him get over the loss of over thirty years of friendship. She visited him everyday but nothing changed. She hoped one day he would be able to heal but she couldn’t imagine that day taking place in a future where his friends killers still ruled the galaxy. It was up to her to change that.</p><p>She walked into the camp. Most of the students were sitting around the fire, eating meat from large four-legged animal being roasted on a spit suspended over the flames.</p><p>‘Go on, Nyla. Get something to eat,’ said Rey. The girl nodded and ran over to join them.</p><p>Her students had been quick to befriend each other. Most had come from similar backgrounds of oppression perpetrated by the First Order. Their shared hatred of the tyrannical regime had been what bonded them.</p><p>Their makeshift Jedi headquarters was pathetic compared to the legendary Jedi Temple on Coruscant, but it worked. A few of the older students milled around maintaining the camp. The main job was preparing for the cold night. The stone hut’s crumbling walls didn’t provide very good insulation so campfires were made inside to be kept going through the night. Also, the nearby forest meant that there was never any lack of wood for fuel, and Rey could easily uproot a tree with the Force for chopping.</p><p><em>It’s nice</em>, thought Rey. <em>But we can’t stay here forever</em>. The First Order increased their hold on the galaxy every day, crushing any resistance and rendering whole systems under their dominance. Rey often wondered how long would it take before their probes would find them.</p><p>
  <em>How long will it take before he finds me?</em>
</p><p>She walked past her students and arrived at her hut at the rear of the camp, opening the door to see Nim sat at a table against the back wall.</p><p>The young Dathomiri was her first padawan. His race had come from a planet known to be steeped in the dark side of the Force, Dathomir. When she first met him she sensed his power, she knew that if Kylo found him he would force him to be one of his Knights of Ren, so she took it upon herself to take him in and teach him the ways of the Jedi.</p><p>It had been successful so far. He was a very quick learner, far surpassing the other students in strength. He was already a formidable combatant due to his life in the fighting pits. He even was a challenge for Rey in their sparring sessions.</p><p>Rey walked in and Nim jumped up and stood in front of the table, grabbing something and holding it behind him. ‘Back so soon, Master?’ he said nervously. He had a warrior’s body, but despite his imposing height and menacing black tattoos, he was still just a teenager.</p><p>‘What are you hiding?’ said Rey.</p><p>‘Nothing.’</p><p>Rey moved the table to the side with the Force. Bits of metal and circuitry cluttered the table and a tome from the Ahch-To texts was open. Rey walked up to the table and examined it. The page had a labeled diagram of a lightsaber on it.</p><p>
  <em>So that’s what he was doing.</em>
</p><p>Rey shifted through the lightsaber parts and picked up the pale blue crystal. ‘I thought I told you to stop, Nim. It’s too dangerous.’</p><p>‘But, Master— I think I’ve finally figured out how to get the power flow right.’</p><p>‘It’s too risky. Remember what happened last time?’</p><p>‘Trust me, Master. I’ve got it right this time,’ said Nim, pulling out the half-built lightsaber from behind him.</p><p>Rey hesitated. They had tried many times to fix Luke’s lightsaber; destroyed in the struggle she had with Kylo Ren a year ago aboard Snoke’s capital ship, the Supremacy. Each effort had resulted in failure. Last time they had nearly reduced the camp to a smoking crater in the ground.</p><p>But at the same time, she realised she needed to trust her students. <em>How can I make progress with them if I’m not willing to take any risks? Besides, I’m not a very good Jedi if I don’t even have a lightsaber.</em></p><p>The Ahch-To Texts said that the ancient weapon was a vital part of the identity of a Jedi. Every Jedi was supposed to build their own. It was an important step in completing your training. Rey had assumed the role of master but she couldn’t even do something initiates of the old Jedi order had learned to do.</p><p>‘Fine,’ said Rey, handing him the crystal. ‘Let’s see then.’</p><p>He went to the table and tinkered with the parts. ‘See, if I plug the crystal in here— the power flow should theoretically…’</p><p>After a while, he finally stopped and readied it in front of him. ‘Here it goes,’ he said nervously. He pressed the ignition button.</p><p>It didn’t activate, instead it started emitting a high-pitched whirring that grew louder and louder. The lightsaber started rumbling in Nim’s hand.</p><p>‘Turn it off!’ said Rey.</p><p>He pressed the button again but the whirring didn’t stop. ‘It’s not shutting off!’ said Nim, repeatedly pressing the button in desperation.</p><p>Rey grabbed the lightsaber from his hand and concentrated on the crystal inside. Immense amounts of power was filling the crystal. It was ready to burst. With a quick motion of her hand she ripped the crystal out of its housing with the Force. The whirring immediately stopped.</p><p>Rey sighed. <em>Crisis averted.</em></p><p>‘I don’t understand what I did wrong. I followed the instructions exactly,’ said a confused Nim.</p><p>Rey examined the internal circuitry of the lightsaber. ‘The emitter field isn’t set up right. Activating it just redirects the power back into the crystal.’</p><p>Nim’s eyes widened. ‘Leading to the crystal exploding,’ he said, itching the space between his horns. ‘I just cant seem to figure it out. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.’</p><p>‘There’s so many possible configurations,’ said Rey. ‘There has to be a way to know which one is right. We must be missing something.’</p><p>Nim looked disappointed. ‘We need to find out soon. One day we will fight the First Order and the Knights of Ren— and none of us are good at using blasters… except maybe Katar.’</p><p>‘We’ll worry about that another day,’ said Rey. ‘Now get some rest.’</p><p>They went to their beds at opposite sides of the hut and laid down. Rey was exhausted. Not physically but mentally. The burden of being a teacher weighed heavy on her. Having people look up to you all day and expecting you to magically change everything bothered her. That had been part of the reason why she had left the Resistance. After she had saved them back on Crait, they had looked at her like she was the second coming of Luke Skywalker.</p><p>She hated the expectations placed on her. She used to be a scavenger, hoping one day to leave Jakku and see the galaxy. She had never wanted to be a hero.</p><p>After a while she closed her eyes, hoping she wouldn’t have another strange dream.</p><p>‘Master,’ said Nim.</p><p>‘What?’ said Rey sleepily.</p><p>‘Is the dark side more powerful than the light?’</p><p>Rey rolled over on her bed to face him. She saw his face through the flickering campfire in the middle of the room. He looked troubled. ‘No. It’s not more powerful. It’s just… easier.’</p><p>‘Seems more powerful,’ said Nim. ‘Kylo Ren rules the galaxy from his luxurious quarters on Coruscant, whilst we’re hiding from him on some backwater planet, sleeping in a cold stone hut.’</p><p>Rey rolled her eyes at him and turned to face the other way. ‘Go to sleep.’</p><p>It took a while for sleep to take her. When it did, she dreamt of a shimmering golden throne, beckoning her to accept its embrace.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Supreme Leader (1/2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo Ren looked out of the window of the Supreme Council meeting chamber and studied the Coruscant skyline. Located at the top of the Naval Intelligence headquarters, the room allowed a view of the heart of the city-planet. The night sky was illuminated by thousands of city lights. Skycars buzzed along in queues of airborne traffic, weaving between the skyscrapers. </p><p><em>What if she was right here, where I would least think to look?</em> thought Kylo. <em>Why does she continue to hide? Does she not see the progress I have made?</em></p><p>For the past year, Kylo had been restoring order to the galaxy. After the destruction of the Supremacy, his first act as Supreme Leader was to establish Coruscant as the capital of the First Order, just like it was for the old Empire. From there, he had strengthened the First Order’s hold on all the Core System planets. </p><p>These planets were often the wealthiest, benefiting the most from trade and industry. Using their resources, he had replaced the losses to the First Order fleets sustained from the hyperspace attack prior to the Battle of Crait. </p><p>Having increased the First Order’s might, he had ordered military expansion into the Outer Rim and beyond, bringing more planets under his control. Outer Rim planets tended to be breeding grounds for the Resistance, and had to be brought to order. They were populated with unruly and lawless people. It had would be a struggle but Kylo had no doubt that one day the First Order would rule the whole galaxy. However, there would never truly be order until the Resistance had been destroyed. </p><p><em>Until General Organa is eliminated</em>, thought Kylo. <em>She’s the brains of the Resistance— but I couldn’t do it last time, I couldn’t pull the trigger.</em></p><p>‘Supreme Leader,’ said a sly voice. Kylo turned to face the Supreme Council, all sat at their seats at the long rectangular table. Two seats were empty, his high backed seat at the foot of the table and an empty seat at the opposite end. </p><p>
  <em>He's still not here.</em>
</p><p>The origin of the voice, the pale-faced General Hux, was sat to the left of Kylo’s seat. Members of the Supreme Council sat in the other seats. Admirals, generals, chancellors. They had all gathered due to news Allegiant General Pryde wanted to deliver personally. Despite the apparent urgency of the news, the general was late.</p><p>‘Whilst we wait for the Allegiant General to arrive, shall we conduct an annual summary report?’ said Hux. </p><p>Kylo took his seat. </p><p>Hux cleared his throat. ‘A year has passed since the First Order removed the weak and ineffectual New Republic from power. Since then, we have slowly worked to restore peace to the galaxy. The worlds of the Core Systems have completely become under our control. Using the newly gained resources and shipyards, we have restored our fleet back to full strength. Grand Admiral Sloane, if you would elaborate.’</p><p>A stern-faced elderly woman in pristine white uniform denoting her rank sat opposite Hux nodded. ‘Our fleet sustained major losses in the hyperspace attack on the Supremacy,’ she said in a regal voice. ‘However, several <em>Interdictor</em>-class Star Destroyers have been built to replace the ships lost.’</p><p>The holoprojector in the middle of the table activated, showing a blue hologram of a Star Destroyer. Kylo didn’t see much difference to the old ships, except at the rear there were four spherical bulges built in to the ship.</p><p>‘These new ships are all equipped with interdiction field technology,’ said Sloane. ‘Four gravity wells are located at the rear. Any ships that enter hyperspace near them will be forcefully pulled out, ensuring that what the Resistance did to the Supremacy will never happen again.’</p><p>‘Thank you, Grand Admiral,’ said Hux. ‘Next time we have those scum within our grasp, they will not be able to escape.’</p><p>He turned to look at Kylo. ‘By your orders, Supreme Leader. Immediate military expansion into the Outer Rim is well underway. All our fleets have been sent to take control of several key planets.’</p><p>‘Except the defense fleet orbiting Coruscant of course,’ said Sloane.</p><p>‘Yes,’ said Hux. ‘A problem we face however is that we lack the manpower to sustain such a campaign.’</p><p>‘Conscription doesn’t work anymore,’ mumbled an old man with receding white hair sat further down the table. ‘Life in the New Republic has made people weak willed and afraid. I remember days when young men and women were eager to enlist in the Imperial Academy.’</p><p><em>Grint. The old fossil always has something to say</em>, thought Kylo. <em>Why do I still keep him around?</em> </p><p>The director of the stormtrooper academy had been with the First Order ever since its creation from the remnants of the old Empire. He had been selected by the Emperor himself to train stormtroopers to replace the dwindling clonetrooper army. Grint grew more senile by the day but due to his reputation within the First Order, removing him would cause disruption Kylo couldn’t afford.</p><p>‘Supreme Leader, I suggest ramping up the recruitment of infants,’ said Grint. ‘Take them from poorer planets in the Outer Rim such as Tatooine and the like— reimbursing the families with a few credits of course. Infants are infinitely easier to instruct than grown adults who have already let unwanted traits sink in. After a few years of reconditioning, I’ll give you a loyal First Order army to rival the Kaminoan clone legions.’</p><p><em>Enough</em>.</p><p>‘Was FN-2187 one of your trainees, Director Grint?’ said Kylo. His helmet altered his voice, removing any possible quivers and making him sound cold and intimidating.</p><p>Grint was caught of guard. ‘Y-yes, Supreme Leader— but he has been the only stormtrooper trained from infancy who has ever turned against his conditioning. I can’t determine the reason but compared to the thousands of other— </p><p>‘I can,’ said Kylo. ‘Old age has addled your mind, Grint. You’re making mistakes. Now you want me give you the chance to make mistakes on a larger scale? </p><p>Grint looked shocked. ‘B-but Supreme— </p><p>‘Your suggestion is denied. Increase propaganda on poverty-ridden Outer Rim planets. Offer higher wages and incentives. The people of the Outer Rim may fear the First Order but they need the money. New recruits will come flooding in.’</p><p>Grint lowered his head. ‘Yes, Supreme Leader.’</p><p>The meeting chamber fell silent. Hux anxiously gestured to a thin woman with a skeletal face sat next to him. Sylvian, the Administrator of Coruscant, was charged with running the capital planet.</p><p>She cleared her throat. ‘I’d like to discuss the unnerving lack of civil unrest on Coruscant recently. Despite the large criminal underworld present on the planet. There has been no major violence or crime for the past few months, which is highly suspicious. There has to be a reason for this sudden inactivity— </p><p>The chamber doors slid open. Allegiant General Pryde walked in, flanked by two chrome-armored troopers of the Phasma Guard, and took his seat at the far end of the table. Kylo stared at the man’s pale wrinkled face, his cold rage masked by his helmet. It was a face that had been leading armies since before Kylo was born. Pryde showed no guilt at being late.</p><p>Pryde studied Kylo with his ice-blue eyes. Doubting eyes. Kylo knew Pryde didn’t believe the tales he had spun about Snoke’s death. The general wasn’t as gullible as the others. The lightsaber wounds on Snoke’s and his guards bodies meant that it was possible for the captured Jedi to have killed them, but Kylo’s survival raised questions.</p><p>‘You’re late,’ said Kylo.</p><p>Pryde ignored him. ‘Our intelligence has learned of a planned Resistance assault on the Kuat tonight,’ he said, avoiding speaking to Kylo specifically, rather choosing to address the room as a whole. </p><p><em>I’ll kill him one day</em>. The only reason he hadn’t was because the man was the most competent individual in the whole organization. He was probably the most experienced general in the whole galaxy. Killing him would put the First Order at a severe disadvantage against the General Organa-led Resistance. Some battles with the Resistance had only been won due to his tactics and quick improvisation.</p><p>‘How?’ asked Sloane. ‘The Resistance are usually very careful.’</p><p>‘We intercepted a Resistance transmission with our new sensor technology,’ said Pryde. </p><p>‘How do you know it isn’t false?’ said Kylo. ‘A fake transmission purposefully sent to misdirect us?’</p><p>‘The fact that it was so heavily encrypted proves it’s legitimacy. We have decrypted a majority of the message but a lot still remains scrambled, hence why I am not playing it for you all, but we can confirm the orders are voiced by General Organa herself.’</p><p>'They plan to destroy our shipyards on the planet, stopping us from constructing new <em>Interdictor</em>-class Star Destroyers and possibly even turning the tides of the war. Poe Dameron himself is leading the assault. Their staging point is a moon orbiting Cetalia, a planet close to Kuat in the system. They’re probably there now.’</p><p>Kylo grimaced underneath his helmet. Poe Dameron, the legendary Resistance fighter pilot. He had picked up quite a reputation amongst the First Order after his role in the destruction of Starkiller Base. It struck fear into the hearts of many Admirals when they learned of how he took down a dreadnought’s defenses singlehandedly prior to the Battle of Crait. If Dameron was leading this assault, it had to be important.</p><p>
  <em>She had to be there.</em>
</p><p>‘Did you hear of anything else? Was anyone else of importance mentioned?’ demanded Kylo.</p><p>‘No. Just the names of a few soldiers accompanying him I assume. One “Rose”? A “Finn” was also mentioned,’ said Pryde.</p><p>Kylo sprang to his feet. Finn was her closest friend. He vividly remembered their battle on Starkiller Base. How the traitor had ignited Luke’s lightsaber, challenging him in order to protect Rey. Kylo had easily dispatched of him, slashing the man’s spine and taking him out of the fight, but Rey had prevented him from confirming the kill. </p><p>
  <em>If I find Finn, I’ll find Rey.</em>
</p><p>The Council members were startled by Kylo’s sudden movement.</p><p>‘Finn is the new name of the traitor FN-2187 I believe,’ murmured Grint in attempt to offer some context.</p><p>‘Intercept their ship, Pryde,’ demanded Kylo. ‘No lethal weaponry is to be used. Bring them to me alive. Is that understood?’ </p><p>‘Yes, Supreme Leader,’ replied Pryde. ‘We should have them before the night is over if we move quickly.’</p><p>‘Allow me to accompany the Allegiant General, Supreme Leader,’ said Hux. ‘Dameron has long been a thorn in my side. I wish to be the one to finally capture him.’</p><p>‘Very well,’ said Kylo. ‘I must attend to other matters. Sylvian, alert me personally in my office when they return.’</p><p>Sylvian nodded. ‘Yes, Supreme—</p><p>Kylo didn’t wait for her to finish. He stormed out of the Council chamber, heading towards the Quarters building where his office was located.</p><p>
  <em>It will soon be over.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Supreme Leader (2/2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo sat at the desk of his dark office in the Quarters buildings. The building was a skyscraper close to the Intelligence headquarters, housing personnel of the First Order and ambassadors from other planets. The higher the floor, the more lavish the rooms were, hence creating ladder like hierarchy with Captains and Officers living on the lower floors and Generals and Admirals living on the upper floors. </p><p>The uppermost floor was dedicated to the Supreme Leader, consisting of multiple rooms that had everything a person could ever need. However, Kylo only used the office most of the time, usually to work or reflect. When he slept— which was not very often— he used the luxurious bedroom neighbouring the office.</p><p>Offers by the Security division had been made to him to take up residence in the Imperial Palace, the former home of the old Emperor. It would be much more appropriate for the Supreme Leader, and the large chambers would be lot more defensible than the hallways of the hotel-like Quarters building.</p><p>He had rejected the offers almost immediately. To deal with the security concerns, he made the elite troopers of the Phasma Guard patrol the halls. If an assassin wanted to make their way up to him, they would have to defeat fifty floors worth of the most highly trained soldiers in the First Order.</p><p>There was no way he would live in the Imperial Palace. Kylo was repulsed at the thought of living in such grand halls and receiving his subjects whilst sat on the old Emperor’s gilded throne. Palpatine had been very theatric, converting the Jedi temple into a palace of vanity, dedicated to his domination of the galaxy.</p><p>Kylo did not favor such pettiness. He had ordered the building to be demolished.  His rule would usher in a new age for the galaxy. A building that had belonged to both the Jedi and the Sith had no space in his vision of the future.</p><p><em>I am no Sith</em>, thought Kylo. He was a wielder of the dark side but he didn’t want to align himself with his failed predecessors.</p><p><em>Call it whatever you want. Sith. Ren. It is all the same. If it maintains that the dark side is the one true path then it is legitimate</em>, said a ghost of his past. Snoke had been ignorant in many ways, but he did offer some useful teachings once in a while.</p><p>Kylo raised his hands to his helmet, pressing a button on it’s underside. Hydraulics hissed and the lower half swung upwards, unlocking the grip it had on his head. He lifted the helmet off and brushed back his long hair with gloved fingers. The air of the office felt cold against his hot face. </p><p>The only time he took it off was when he was alone. He wished he didn’t need it. He knew what people though of him. He didn’t even need to probe their minds. The way they looked at him proved it all. They knew that Kylo had lost control back on Crait— how his face had been contorted in pure rage, screaming rash orders at his soldiers and how his anger had allowed him to be duped by Luke Skywalker’s Jedi trickery, allowing the Resistance time to escape. </p><p>The reforged helmet allowed him to restore the fear they had once felt from him. It hid the face they associated with failure and it altered his voice to be cold and unemotional. When he wore it, the troopers and officers of the First Order were reminded of the mysterious and deadly warlord second only to Snoke himself. The older higher-ups who used to be officers in the old Empire were reminded of the powerful and commanding Darth Vader.</p><p>Kylo recalled a time he abandoned the helmet, destroying it back on the Supremacy. Snoke had mocked him for wearing it, saying he was a pale imitation of Vader, so Kylo had gotten rid of it in anger. He now realised Snoke was wrong. He had surpassed Vader. </p><p><em>Had Vader ever ruled his own Empire?</em> thought Kylo.The Sith Lord had remained an underling of the Emperor, succumbing to the light side before dying. In the end, Vader was a failure. </p><p>Kylo sank back in his chair. </p><p>He always thought in circles, repeating the same thoughts everyday.  No matter how much he tried to relax, he never could. He shut his eyes and felt the dark energy swirling inside him, violent and volatile. He remembered a time when he was afraid the dark side, fearing it would swallow his mind, but Snoke had taught him well. He had nurtured Kylo and helped him to accept the dark side.</p><p><em>Truth is nothing to be scared of</em>, Snoke had said. The dark side of the force was based on real and natural emotions unlike the unnatural fallacies the Jedi believed in. </p><p><em>Is anger and hate not natural?</em> thought Kylo, repeating what he said to himself every night. <em>Is it not a truth of our humanity? The light side seeks to remove that— it wants us to become something that is unrealistic. That is what General Organa and Rey seek to impose on the galaxy. </em></p><p><em>I will stop them. When the light side is finally eradicated, there will be no disparity. The only conduit of the Force will be me. That is my vision. I will control the fate of the galaxy, not the Force.</em><br/>
A new train of thought appeared in his mind. <em>And what happens then? </em></p><p>Kylo had no plan for that. As usual, his mind immediately rushed to the darkest place. <em>If I have the strength to do what needs to be done… I’ll take my own life. The Force will die with me and its grip on the galaxy will disappear. </em></p><p>Thoughts rushed through his head. He pondered if the First Order could maintain peace and how large the risk was of his Empire collapsing, but he pushed them to the side for now and focused on what needed to be done. He had urgently left the Supreme Council for a reason. The Knights of Ren— his dark side apprentices— still roamed the galaxy on his orders, searching for the last Jedi. They had to be informed of the new plan.</p><p>There were four full-blooded Knights in total, all gained during the past year. Following Kylo’s ascension to Supreme Leader, the previous Knights had become over-ambitious and plotted to overthrow him. They had quickly learned the cost of betraying him. </p><p>He didn’t miss his old accomplices. They were formidable warriors but none were powerful in the Force. His new Knights were all Force-sensitive and had adopted a master-apprentice relationship with him. Kylo didn’t like using methods from the old Sith. Having more Force users in the galaxy went against his vision, but he needed them. He would never find Rey if he worked alone.</p><p>Kylo had to tell them of the planned interception of Poe Dameron and summon them back to Coruscant. Once he extracted the location of the General Organa’s base from Dameron, they would accompany him on the assault. He doubted he would need their assistance to take down the Resistance defenses but if Rey was there, he most likely would. She had bested him twice before. Once on Starkiller Base in a lightsaber duel and once on the Supremacy in a Force struggle. He would not let it happen a third time.</p><p>Rey wasn’t stupid. She had to be training new Jedi in hiding. Who knew how many battle-ready students she had by now. Maybe she had even found a cache of rare kyber crystals and constructed lightsabers for all of them. He had to be ready for anything. He wasn’t going to let her beat him again. Not this time. This time it would end in only two ways: Rey would join him or she would die.</p><p> He activated the holocomm in the middle of his desk and waited for it to connect. After a while of brooding in the dark, blue light flashed from the device and a hologram of a well dressed blond-haired youth emerged.</p><p>‘Master,’ said Ken as he knelt before Kylo. </p><p>Ken was the unofficial lead Knight of Ren. Not due to his power or combat skill— he was actually quite weak in this regard— but for his excellent conversational skills. He had been raised in the political sphere of Naboo, reared by his father in the way of diplomacy and negotiations. He had a way of navigating through difficult situations and coming out on top, often with no violence needed.</p><p>That definitely wasn’t the case with the other Knights.</p><p>‘Rise, my apprentice,’ said Kylo. He didn’t wear his helmet in front of the boy as he knew he admired him unconditionally.</p><p>He had first met Ken during his first visit to Naboo. He was the sixteen-year-old son of a wealthy politician of the Typho family, loyal to the First Order. Once Kylo had taken control of the planet from the royal family, he transferred the crown to Ken’s father to rule in the First Order’s name, making him a prince.</p><p>That alone had made him look up to Kylo. During negotiations, he had sensed Ken’s Force-sensitivity and chosen him to be a Knight of Ren, the honor of which made him pretty much deify Kylo in his eyes.</p><p>‘I have made no progress in finding the last Jedi, Master,’ said Ken. ‘I chase down leads all over the Outer Rim but when I arrive on these stinking planets, there is no trace of her. I offer sizeable rewards for any information but I get nothing! Not even a hint!’</p><p>‘I suspect that the invalids that inhabit these planets hide them from us. Pro-Resistance sentiment breeds here like a nasty infection, rotting to the core of their societies— but still, you’d think someone would have seen her. Perhaps there is another explanation. Could it be that the Jedi has learned some new Force power? Perhaps an ability to bend light, rendering her invisible to— </p><p>‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Kylo, interrupting the boy’s ramble. ‘I need you all to come back to Coruscant. We may have the location of the Resistance base soon.’</p><p>‘Soon?’ said Ken.</p><p>Kylo told him of the plan intercept Dameron’s ship. </p><p>The boy’s eyes lit up. ‘A brilliant plan, Master. It truly is. Thanks to your genius we will finally lift the rock the Resistance filth is hiding under and obliterate them from the face of the galaxy.’</p><p>‘Notify the Talia and Talon. I need you all to be ready to deploy with me.’</p><p>Ken paused. ‘What about Rykosh? I haven’t been in contact with him for a while now. Maybe the beast has forgotten his taming and left the Knights. I haven’t heard any news of a murderous rampage though so— </p><p>‘He is on a confidential mission on my orders. It is none of your concern,’ said Kylo. </p><p>Rykosh was his most trusted apprentice out of all the Knights of Ren. Kylo had sent him on a personal task to hunt down something he had read in Snoke’s personal files. It was a shot in the dark— most likely a myth— but it had mentioned enough times for it to be worth investigating. </p><p>
  <em>That is something to consider another time, I have much more pressing matters to attend to right now.</em>
</p><p>Ken nodded. ‘Understood, Master. I will meet with other two and we will arrive on Coruscant as soon as we can.’</p><p>Kylo saw the door of the office slided open through Ken’s hologram, revealing a female silhouette. </p><p>
  <em>Lana. </em>
</p><p>He ignored Ken’s deep bow and shut the holocomm off.</p><p>The Princess of Naboo walked into his office. She was wearing a exquisite silver-gray dress, figure-hugging with long sleeves and and a high neck leading to a glittering collar. Her dark brown hair was curled in one of the many elaborate styles common to the noblewomen of Naboo, with a thin silver crown nestled above her brow. She certainly looked like royalty.</p><p>Kylo assumed the reason she dressed so well was for the Senate meetings she constantly attended. She appeared before other ambassadors in a different outfit for each meeting, impressing them with the culture and riches of her home planet. She had a vastly different look every time he saw her, which he tried not to.</p><p><em>That night was a mistake</em>, thought Kylo. </p><p>After he had overseen the Typho coronation, she had come into his bedroom in the Royal Palace that night with a bottle of Theed wine, proposing she let him celebrate with the man who was responsible for her family’s success. Something about her had made him hesitantly accept. One drink had led to another, and they talked for a while. </p><p>They weren’t so different. Kylo discovered that they shared the same views, had the same feelings of pressure from their new positions. After a few hours, the conversation had slowed. She had been sat on his bed, so close to him. She shut her eyes, leaning in towards him and in a moment of weakness, Kylo had let her kiss him. </p><p>He knew that something like this would weaken him but he didn’t push her away. He kissed back, letting it escalate. Having been deprived of another’s touch for so long, he lost himself in her. The time passed by like a dream, a dream he could spend a lifetime in, and ended with an overwhelming rush of pleasure the likes of which he had never felt before. After it was over, his mind fell back to reality and he realised his mistake. He quickly got dressed and left.</p><p>If he didn’t leave, he knew he would have stayed, and his vision would have never been achieved.</p><p>He returned to Coruscant. What he didn’t expect was her to follow him.</p><p>‘How is my brother?’ she said in a soft voice, vastly differing from the strong tones she used when giving speeches.</p><p>‘Fine, Ambassador Typho. What brings you to my office at this late hour’ said Kylo, straightening his posture.</p><p>She frowned, her kind face showing unusual anger. ‘Ambassador Typho?— I have had enough of this’ she said. The soft voice was gone. She stormed towards him and planted her hands on his desk, looming over a sitting Kylo.</p><p>‘Enough of the Senate meetings? Yes, they look quite tedious. Maybe it would be best to return to Naboo indefinitely. I’m sure they need their princess.’ said Kylo. </p><p>She slapped him across the face. Hard. Kylo looked at her in shock.</p><p>‘Why do you keep pushing me away, Kylo?’ she said. ‘You weren’t being so formal with me that night in the Royal Palace! We opened up to each other! We connected! We even— Why do you act like what happened between us that night never happened? Stop hiding from me like a child and tell me the truth!’ </p><p>He felt like telling her. He felt like opening up to her again like he did that night but he knew he couldn’t. He wouldn’t let her weaken him again and distract her from his vision. It was time to end whatever this was for good.</p><p>‘Assaulting the Supreme Leader is punishable by death’ said Kylo, trying to sound as cold as possible.</p><p>Her face sank. She stood away from the table and straightened. ‘I-I apologise, Supreme Leader. I forgot myself.’</p><p>He saw the hurt in her eyes. Warm brown eyes that had never looked at him with anything but affection.</p><p>He couldn’t bear it. He resisted the screaming urge to reach for his helmet and hide himself— to become the unemotional Supreme Leader he wanted to be, but doing that now would just show more weakness. Instead, he stood and turned away, walking to stand before the large panoramic window of his office and focus his attentions on the Coruscant skyline.</p><p><em>The skycar traffic is unusually quiet today</em>, he thought, attempting to distract himself. His cheek still stung from the slap.</p><p>‘You are forgiven, Ambassador. It’s getting late. You should leave and get some rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day.’</p><p>He didn’t hear a response, or the sound of the doors opening for her exit. A soft hand touched his cheek. Lana guided his eyes into hers. The pain disappeared. He felt knees felt weak from her touch. It had been so long since that night on Theed. Every night he had dreamed of it happening again, always cursing himself for encouraging weak thoughts.</p><p>‘Kylo,’ she said longingly. ‘Please.’ </p><p>She stepped closer. Kylo tensed, his breath becoming heavier. She stretched up to kiss him.</p><p>
  <em>Weakness.</em>
</p><p>‘No!’ said Kylo, jerking away from her. She looked up at him, her eyes welling up with tears. This hurt was too much. </p><p>‘Leave!’ he said.</p><p>‘Y-yes, Supreme Leader,’ said Lana, struggling to hold back tears. She rushed out of his office, the doors sliding closed behind her.</p><p>Kylo sank into his office seat, confused between his feelings of resolve and regret.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Shattered Bonds (1/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘I’d rather not deal with his remarks for the journey back to Coruscant,’ said an aged First Order general with pale blue eyes looking down at a kneeling Poe Dameron, hands cuffed behind his back. ‘PT-7, silence him.’</p><p>‘Yes, Allegiant General,’ said a chrome-armoured trooper standing at attention beside them.The stormtrooper hit Poe in the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him unconscious. </p><p>Rey was kneeling on the floor, similarly captured. She tried to use the Force to destroy her cuffs but she couldn’t. She had no control over her body. </p><p>It wasn’t hers. </p><p>‘We surrendered damn it!’ said the person who’s mind she was somehow inhabiting. She recognised the voice immediately.</p><p>
  <em>Finn!</em>
</p><p>She felt Finn’s anger swell as he charged towards the trooper who hit Poe. A hand grabbed his shoulder, throwing him onto his back. She looked up through Finn’s eyes to see Hux looking down at him furiously.</p><p>‘You forget yourself!’ said Hux, almost shaking in anger.</p><p>Pryde studied Finn, then looked to his left at Rose Tico who was similarly cuffed. ‘Ah yes, the others. They look like they will be more trouble than they are worth. Dameron should be enough,’ he said. He motioned to a group of stormtroopers. ‘Kill these two.’</p><p>‘No!’ yelled Hux.</p><p>Pryde paused. A look of mild surprise was on his face. ‘General Hux?’</p><p>‘Allegiant General Pryde, the Supreme Leader explicitly ordered they be brought to him, alive.’</p><p>‘Dameron will be.’</p><p>‘These two may be of value to him. I’ll handle them’</p><p>Pryde paused for a moment, as if contemplating the consequences of possibly angering Kylo. ‘Very well,’ he said. He walked away, two Phasmatroopers grabbed Poe by the shoulders and followed Pryde, dragging their prisoner along.</p><p>‘You two,’ said Hux, signalling to two stormtroopers. ‘Bring these two with me.’</p><p>*</p><p>Rey jerked upright, coated in sweat. Through the crumbling roof of the stone hut she could see the darkness of the sky, filled with the small points of light of stars. It was the middle of the night. </p><p><em>Was that real? Has Poe really been captured?</em>  she asked herself. She had never had a dream where she was in someone else’s body. It was too specific to be generated by her imagination. The general with the ghostly blue eyes had seemed all too real.</p><p>She had to contact Leia and notify her. Quietly, she got up searched for her holocomm device, finding it in a container full of rabble underneath the table of lightsaber parts. Nim was still sleeping soundly and she didn’t want to wake him.</p><p>She talked to Leia irregularly, updating the general on her progress and learning how the fight against the First Order was going. Lately, she hadn’t called Leia in weeks. It wasn’t not like she had made any significant progress to tell Leia about.</p><p>Pulling a cloak around her shoulders, she walked towards the door of the hut. </p><p>Something pulsed behind her. She turned to see what it was.  Peering closer to the table, she noticed the dull shine of Luke’s kyber crystal. Some instinct made her take the crystal and the lightsaber case with her, tucking them into the folds in her robe. She exited the hut, gently closing the door behind her. Stepping outside, she immediately felt the piercing cold, making her want to rush back to the warmth of the hut. She pushed through it.</p><p>The central campfire had long gone out and the students were all inside. She walked towards the one of the logs surrounding the burnt out fire and sat down. Her holocomm started buzzing.</p><p><em>No way.</em> </p><p>She activated it. Blue light flashed from the device and a hologram of Leia appeared.</p><p>‘Rey! It’s been so long,’ said Leia.</p><p>‘Leia! I was just about to call you,’ said Rey. A year of intense war had changed Leia’s face. It was lined with stress and worry.</p><p>‘How goes the training of the new Jedi? Will you be joining us any time soon? We could sure use your help,’ said Leia.</p><p>Rey hesitated. ‘It’s going well,’ she lied. ‘It is still going to take some time to get them battle-ready though.’</p><p>Leia frowned. ‘Time is something we don’t have. We couldn’t wait around for you, Rey. We’ve gone ahead with the plan.’</p><p>‘Plan?’ said Rey. ‘What plan?’</p><p>Her eyes widened in shock as Leia detailed the plan, and relief showed on Leia’s face when Rey told her of her dream.</p><p>*</p><p>‘You’re putting them in so much danger! How could you approve of such a thing?’ said Rey.</p><p>‘Danger?’ said Leia. ‘Everyone is in danger, Rey. This is war. Poe, Finn and Rose are my best soldiers. They knew the risks and they’re prepared to pay the costs for freedom. They’re paying it for everyone!’</p><p>‘Alright. Assuming this does work. Assuming they actually go all the way. It all falls apart when Kylo enters the equation. He’ll put a stop to this. He’ll kill them and probe their minds for your location. You’re giving him victory!’</p><p>‘We’re not stupid. We’ve prepared for him. They don’t have to kill him, they just have to keep him occupied. The plan is larger than him. He may be powerful with the Force but he’s still one man. Once we have the upper hand we can deal with him.’</p><p>Rey frowned. <em>She underestimates his power.</em></p><p>‘I called you for a reason, Rey,’ said Leia. ‘You told me about the bond Snoke made between you both. I need you to use it. Talk to him. Try to convince him to stop— to turn back to the light. It’s the only way this could end without bloodshed.’</p><p>Rey hadn’t communed with Kylo through the bond since Crait. During the weeks after the battle, she often felt a dark influence at the edge of her mind. Through weeks of meditation she had learned to banish it. Nowadays she felt nothing from their bond.</p><p>‘I don’t know if I can, Leia,’ said Rey. ‘Even if I could, he’s too far gone.’</p><p>Leia shook her head. ‘No. There’s still conflict within him. A year ago, he had me targeted with his ship’s cannons. He could have pulled the trigger and killed me right there but he didn’t. He couldn’t! You have to try, Rey. Even if there is a small chance, you have to at least try.’</p><p>Rey could sense Leia’s conflict. Two sides of her fought each other. The hardened General who had to do what was necessary for the cause and the desperate mother, who just wanted her son back.</p><p>Rey nodded. ‘I’ll try.’</p><p>Leia smiled. Something flashed to the side of her hologram and Leia turned her head towards it. </p><p>‘Okay give me a minute,’ said Leia. She turned back to Rey. ‘Thank you. Now, I have to go. We’ve got the signal from them and they need me to command the assault. Goodbye, Rey, and May the force be with you. May the Force be with us all’</p><p>‘Goodbye, Leia,’ said Rey. The transmission cut out and the camp was dark again.</p><p>She couldn’t talk to Kylo here. Talking through the Force Bond only allowed them to see each other, not each others environment, but she couldn’t risk it. Every time they had used the Bond it had only gotten stronger. The last time they had actually touched hands and delved into each others minds. If he somehow managed to see the stone huts, maybe he would be able to identify the ancient culture they belonged to and find out what planet they were on. </p><p>Her students were sleeping. She didn’t want them to be scared awake by Kylo’s dark aura so she took one last look behind her for any movement and walked out of the camp, starting her long walk towards the beach. A lot of planets had beaches. There was no way Kylo could get any clues as to where they were if he saw her there.</p><p>As she walked, she recalled the last time she had felt Kylo’s mind. Despite all the darkness she had felt within him, there was still conflict. Kylo killing Han Solo, his own father, hadn’t completed his descent into the dark side. Instead it had increased the conflict. The pull between light and dark was tearing him apart. </p><p>Rey had tried pleading with him to change his ways back on the Supremacy, but it didn’t work. He wanted her to change instead. Kylo had offered her a place beside him to rule the galaxy together. </p><p>Rey had felt disgust. In the chaos and emotion of it all, she had almost been tempted. When Rey realised joining Kylo would result in the death of her friends, the slaughter of thousands of Resistance fighters and First Order oppression across the galaxy, she had immediately made her decision to reject him.</p><p>Now she had to try to redeem him again. The desperation in Leia’s eyes had been clear. She wanted her son back. Rey continued to walk towards the beach, thinking of how to handle the confrontation.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Shattered Bonds (2/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘Kylo, it’s me,’ said a female voice.</p><p>Kylo shot up out of bed, his body coated with sweat. He Pulled his lightsaber on the bedside drawer towards him, activating the blade, ready to strike down the intruder. The fizzling red saber illuminated the dark bedroom with a sinister crimson glow. </p><p>He had been dreaming of something that seemed like real life, where he was walking on a planet of living green and red,  arriving before a dark throne that beckoned him closer. However, he was sure he was awake this time. The voice sounded like it was in the room.He Pushed the light switch on the wall. The ceiling lights flickered on, showering the room in bright light. He had swore he had heard a voice.</p><p><em>Maybe I’m finally going crazy</em>, thought Kylo, deactivated his lightsaber. He turned to go back to bed.</p><p>Rey stood before him. </p><p>Igniting his saber in a flash, he raised it, ready to slash downwards. He couldn’t.</p><p><em>Kill her!</em> screamed a darker part of his mind. <em>Strike her down and end the Jedi forever!</em></p><p>However something within him resisted. No! You can turn her. Back on the Supremacy, she nearly took your hand. <em>There is still a chance. Think about it. If you joined together, even the Force itself wouldn’t be able to stop— </em></p><p>Kylo paused. Rey had a cloak wrapped around herself, billowing in a wind that he couldn’t feel. She wasn’t really there.</p><p><em>The Force Bond</em>, thought Kylo.</p><p>‘It’s been so long, Rey,’ said Kylo, switching his weapon off.</p><p>‘Can you put some clothes on?’ said Rey, her cheeks going red.</p><p>Kylo realised he wore nothing. His clothes were strewn about the floor, discarded from a night of restless sleep. His face went hot as he rushed to put on his trousers. After pulling them up, he walked back to Rey, trying to suppress his embarrassment. It disappeared when he considered the implications of Rey’s presence. </p><p>‘Rey, it’s been so long…’ he said. ‘Why have you re-opened the Bond now? Have you finally changed your mind?’</p><p>‘No. I’m not joining you,’ said Rey. ‘I never will. I re-opened it because this time, I want you to join me. I want you to come back to the light.’</p><p>‘General Organa put you up to this. I can tell.’ </p><p>‘No, not “General Organa”. Your mother, Ben.’</p><p>Kylo’s fists clenched. ‘Ben is dead! Only Kylo Ren remains.’</p><p>‘Our minds are connected, Ben. I can feel the conflict within you. There’s still light, struggling to be free of the dark. I can help you.’</p><p>Kylo laughed. </p><p>Rey was taken aback. ‘What’s so funny?’ she asked.</p><p>‘The blind optimism of the Jedi is ridiculous. You come to me thinking I can be redeemed. Do you know how many people I’ve killed, Rey?’</p><p>‘I-it’s not too late. Nothing will erase the things you have done but… a path to redemption always remains. It’s a long and difficult path but—</p><p> ‘I’ve killed billions, Rey. <em>Billions</em>.’</p><p>Rey opened her mouth but couldn’t find the words to respond. </p><p><em>That took her off her planned speech pretty well</em>, thought Kylo. He stared deep into Rey’s eyes, looking for a hint of fear or disgust. All he saw was sympathy.</p><p>‘No! That was Snoke who was behind Starkiller Base. It wasn’t you!’ said Rey.</p><p><em>She still believes I can change!</em> thought Kylo. <em>It’s time I destroyed her hope once and for all.</em> </p><p>‘I joined the First Order of my own free will,’ said Kylo. ‘I aided them in destroying the Hosnian system. Billions of men, women and children were killed. Trillions of species extinct. Whole cultures erased. All in an instant. Such loss of life— and you know what I felt? Nothing. It was necessary.’</p><p>Rey looked at him with an expression of horror. Slowly, it changed to one of sadness.</p><p>‘I’m asking you for the last time,’ said Rey, holding her hand out. ‘Please. Take my hand. Come back to the light.’</p><p>Kylo slapped her hand away in anger. ‘The light is false! The dark side is the only true way! Why can’t you see that!’</p><p>Rey stepped forward placed a hand on his cheek. Closing her eyes, she delved into his mind. He dropped to his knees, overwhelmed by her power. Kylo felt her skimming through his mind like a book. Feeling her presence invading his mind wasn’t painful like he expected. It was comforting. She was so… bright, contrasting the darkness he was so used to.</p><p><em>Is this what the light side truly feels like?</em> thought Kylo.   </p><p> ‘So much rage. So much hatred,’ she said, a tear flowing down her cheek. ‘And you’re spreading it throughout the galaxy, convincing yourself you’re restoring order.’</p><p>Her presence filled his mind, wrapping around his dark emotions and diminishing the influence they had on his mind.</p><p><em>I want to stay like this forever</em>, thought Kylo. <em>I want to stay with her forever</em>.</p><p>She moved her hand away and began to fade. ‘There’s nothing I can do.’</p><p>‘No!’ yelled Kylo, grabbing her hand and maintaining the Bond. ‘Don’t leave me!’ </p><p>‘Let go!’ said Rey, trying to escape his grip. She thought he was trying to attack her. Kylo had to do something before she left for good. He closed his eyes and concentrated on her, delving into her mind as she had done to his whilst also stopping the Bond from fading by holding onto her presence with a vice-like grip.</p><p>He had to search her memory to find out where she was.</p><p>Despite his superior size, he struggled to hold onto her. The Force Bond wasn’t a physical connection, but a Force-driven mental connection, even if it seemed like it wasn’t. Her strength in the Force matched his. It was straining Kylo to simultaneously maintain the bond and search her mind. He had to act quickly. <br/>He visualised her mind to navigate it easier, an efficient method he used whilst Force Probing minds. He could see the moments of her life as individual lights shining in a dark void. A galaxy of Rey’s memory. He flew his wraith-like body from light to light, leaving a shadowy trail behind him as he went. Most of the lights were dull. They showed memories from a childhood of living on the uneventful desert planet of Jakku.</p><p>Some lights were brighter than the others. He shot towards them, cracking them open and experiencing them in a flash. They were memories of when Rey had left Jakku. Meeting Finn. Escaping her home planet on the Millennium Falcon. Feelings of excitement and wonder emanated from the memories. Some of the bright lights felt different. They emitted feelings of stress. Stress of being someone people looked up to. The stress of… training a new Jedi Order. </p><p>He rushed towards it, but stopped just as abruptly. She had nearly escaped his grip, her presence fading. </p><p>
  <em>No! </em>
</p><p>He snapped out of her mind, returning to his normal body and saw Rey becoming fainter and fainter. She pulled her arm free, stepping backwards. Summoning all the dark side energy he could, he lunged for her, grabbing her robe by the chest just as she was about to fade. Her body snapped back into clarity, becoming as opaque as if she was really there in front of him.</p><p>He felt glee as his tendrils of dark energy wrapped around her, fixing the Bond in place. ‘Rey, stop pushing me away. I took your hand like you wanted me to! Just let me find out where you are and we can be together!’</p><p>Rey looked at him in horror and agony. As if every moment he held onto her was causing her excruciating pain and disgust.</p><p>
  <em>No! It isn’t supposed to be like this. </em>
</p><p>He felt her gathering light side energy. It was useless. He held her too strongly. He prepared to venture back into her mind and find her location<br/>Just as he was about to delve back into her mind, she raised a leg and kicked him away, gathering all her light side energy in one point and lashing out. Her kick was like a blade of Force severing the ties holding her to him. She pulled free, the front of her robe tearing off in his hands, leaving rags of grey fabric in his hands. </p><p>She faded from the room. The warmth he had been feeling disappeared and he was left with an overwhelming sense of loss. He was alone again. He slumped to the floor, leaning against his bed and clutching the rags of Rey’s robe. After so long bottling it all up, he gave up. He let the tears fall this time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Shattered Bonds (3/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lana couldn’t sleep. It had been a few hours since her servant Rish had left the room after her helping her prepare for the night. She lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She felt tired but she couldn’t fall asleep. It had been such a busy day. Trade negotiations betweens the Core Systems politicians had been so taxing on her today. They held their noses up at her. Just because Naboo was a Outer Rim planet, they dismissed her people as Resistance-sympathisers who had been conquered by the First Order, rather than having joined them willingly. </p><p>It was true that General Organa, the criminal who led the Resistance, had ties to her planet. The general’s mother had been the former Queen of Naboo. It also didn’t help that the previous royal family had supported the New Republic, and was also aiding the Resistance. However, her father had turned things around. Pro-First Order sentiment blossomed amongst the nobles of Theed once they saw the wealth and trade it brought to the planet. Some people couldn’t see that though.</p><p>That was only part of the reason she was kept awake at night. The other reason was her confrontation with Kylo. He had given her his answer. Whatever they had had between them was truly over.</p><p>Her bedroom doors slid open. She put a hand up to partially cover the sudden light coming from the hallway outside. </p><p><em>What is it now?</em> she thought. It was probably Rish, come to tell her of an impromptu meeting with a politician who had just arrived on the planet. She was hardly ready to meet anyone. Her hair was loose around her shoulders and she had taken off her makeup. It would take a few hours for her servant to style her. It wasn’t like she could stand before someone looking so bland. By that time it would be close to morning anyway. </p><p> ‘Whatever it is, Rish, can it not wait until the morning?’ she said, sitting upright and lifting a hand to shield her eyes from the sudden light.</p><p>As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw the outline of the figure standing at the doorway. It wasn’t Rish. A tiny young girl like her wasn’t that tall and didn’t have broad shoulders. It was a man. Uncomfort set in. Her duvet lay up to her waist, revealing the near-translucent sleeping gown she wore. She pulled the duvet up to cover herself and adjusted a loose shoulder strap.</p><p>When she packed for Coruscant, she had only brought the finest clothes. Her nightwear was all high quality Theed silk, the thin material was highly breathable and comfortable to sleep in but it was hardly appropriate for others to see. She would have preferred a simple girl’s thick woolen shift right now.</p><p>If someone wanted to meet her, it was quite rude of them to barge up to her room unannounced. Maybe the man had more wasn’t a politician, and had more sinister intentions. She was the Princess of Naboo after all, who knows how many people out there meant her harm. She was about to tell the man to leave before she called the guards. If he didn’t, she kept a blaster in her bedside drawer as a precaution for situations like these.</p><p> Before she could speak, her eyes became more adjusted to the light and she recognised the figure immediately.</p><p>‘Supreme Leader?’ she said.</p><p>Kylo didn’t answer. He walked in, the door closed behind him. The room was dark again.</p><p>Lana’s heart beat faster. What could he possibly want to say at this time of night? Her mind raced with thoughts of the last time they had met in the night. When she had gone into his bedroom whilst he  was staying in the Royal Palace on Theed.</p><p><em>No— that was only one time. It was a mistake</em>, she thought. He didn’t truly feel the same way about her. The reason for his visit had to be something more rational. A Resistance attack maybe? Did something happen to Ken? It was a great honour for her brother to be a Knight of Ren but his new occupation rooting out evil in the Outer Rim exposed him to a lot of danger. </p><p>Lana flicked on the bedside lamp. The first thing she noticed was that Kylo was shirtless. Thoughts of his visit being about something non-personal faded. She managed to pull her eyes from his body and look him in the face. His eyes were red and wet with tears. </p><p>Her heart skipped a beat. Was this a dream? After a year of him pushing her away, he had finally come to her. Had her confrontation finally broken down his walls? Did he feel bad for what he had said?</p><p>The serious Ambassador side of her set in. She had gone to him with a final offer which he had rejected. It would lower her dignity to accept him after what he did. Why had he come? To have another fling with her and then ignore her for another year?</p><p><em>I’m not letting that happen again</em>, she thought. He made his choice. Part of her felt like telling him to leave. To make him feel the pain he had made her feel earlier.</p><p>‘Supreme Leader, what’s the matter?’ she said. She had to find out the reason behind his visit first before saying anything rash.</p><p>He moved towards the bed, kneeling next to her and taking her hand in his.</p><p> ‘I’m sorry, Lana,’ said Kylo. ‘Forgive me.’</p><p><em>He’s come to apologise?</em>  Lana faltered, nearly letting down her guard. </p><p>
  <em>No. I need more than that. I need a promise.</em>
</p><p>‘Why, your Excellency?’ she said.</p><p>‘Please, don’t call me that. You’re the only person I have. I was wrong to push you away. I thought you would make me weaker but I don’t care any more.’</p><p>‘Kylo, that’s the thing. You think letting people in is a weakness. What is the point of us being together if you think I am a burden.’</p><p>‘I’m sorry. I don’t know anymore,’ he said, collapsing into her arms and sobbing. ‘Please. Just hold me.’</p><p> She couldn’t tell him to leave. That would tear them apart for good. This was a chance to heal. She guided Kylo onto the bed to lay next to her, his head resting on her chest.</p><p>‘Love isn’t weakness, Kylo. It can be strength,’ she said, stroking his head. ‘You just need to see that.’</p><p>After a while, the sobbing stopped and they lay there for a while. Kylo looked up at her and moved up so that they were eye level.</p><p>‘I see it now. Lana... I need you,’ he said. He leaned up and kissed her. She kissed him back.</p><p>*</p><p>Kylo lay on the bed, looking at a sleeping Lana. A long day of politics at the Senate had her tired already, their amorous embraces had only exhausted her further. He couldn’t sleep himself. He didn’t want to risk losing the way he felt. A warm feeling similar to that which he had felt when Bonding with Rey permeated his mind, but this time it wasn’t from a Jedi’s manipulations. It was from something real. From someone real. Lana believed in him and loved him for who he was. Not who she wanted him to be.</p><p>Even when avoiding her, he always watched recordings of her speeches at the Senate. She believed in the First Order. Everyday she worked hard to establish the First Order’s vision. His vision. With every speech she convinced undecided parties to submit to his rule. All Rey did was work against him.</p><p>
  <em>All that time alone, hoping that Rey would join me when the person I needed was right here.</em>
</p><p>‘S-supreme Leader?’ said a nervous voice. Kylo didn’t notice the door slide open. He looked up to see Sylvian standing there. He Pulled the duvet up to cover them.</p><p>‘What?’ whispered Kylo, trying not to wake Lana.</p><p>‘The Resistance ship has been intercepted. Allegiant General Pryde is en route to Coruscant with a captured Poe Dameron. They will be arriving any minute now.’</p><p>Kylo got out of bed and rushed to put on his clothes strewn on the floor, not caring what Sylvian saw.</p><p>He looked up at her blushing face whilst pulling a trouser leg up. ‘Prepare my transport to the Intelligence headquarters. I’ll get ready and meet you in the lobby.’</p><p>‘R-right away, Supreme Leader,’ said Sylvian. She paced away from the door, almost breaking into a run.</p><p>Kylo pulled up his trousers and headed towards the door. Before leaving, he turned to look back at a sleeping Lana. He had something to protect now. It renewed his resolve.</p><p><em>Us two ruling together, we could bring true order to the galaxy</em>, thought Kylo. Lana had talked about a grand wedding spanning the galaxy, starting in the gardens of Naboo and ending in the gilded halls of a new Supreme Palace here on Coruscant.</p><p>Kylo looked at the sleeping Lana and smiled at the thought of it.</p><p><em>I’d like that</em>, he thought, turning from her and leaving the room, heading towards his quarters. <em>But it can’t happen in a galaxy where the Resistance still exists</em>.</p><p>It horrified him to think of Lana becoming another high value target for the General Organa to attack. </p><p>
  <em>For our future to exist, they must be eliminated.</em>
</p><p>He arrived in his room and quickly donned his usual black garb, not forgetting to equip his lightsaber. Walking out of the room, he felt like he was missing something. He looked back through the door at his helmet lying on the desk. Instead of rushing to get it, he carried on walking. </p><p>He didn’t need it anymore.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Prisoner (1/2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo stormed through the halls of the Naval Intelligence headquarters, flanked by two stormtroopers. The halls buzzed with activity as he headed towards the detainment cells. Stormtroopers marched to their posts whilst officers yelled orders.  Kylo had ordered security to be doubled, if not tripled, around the headquarters. </p><p>Orders were broadcast across the planet for all patrolling troopers to return to the area surrounding the headquarters known as the Core Square. Kylo had even pulled the Phasma Guard from the Quarters building. Ground and air traffic were blocked from entering the square, with TIE fighters ready to be deployed, ordered to shoot anyone who violated the airspace. Poe Dameron himself had been captured and Kylo did not want to take any chances. </p><p>The Resistance would need an army of thousands to rescue Dameron. The defense fleet orbited above the Core Square and planetary defense systems were manned. Any cruisers carrying such an army would be obliterated as soon as they jumped out of hyperspace.</p><p>A mouse droid sped along in front of Kylo, leading the way through the vast complex. The droid was nothing more than a black metal box on wheels but it was still capable of multiple useful functions, ranging from small repairs to acting as guides. Sleek white letters and numbers on the back of the droid labelled it <em>F1</em>.</p><p>The two stormtroopers he had met at the entrance of the headquarters followed behind him. As guards of the detainment area, it was their job to accompany him to the cell. The taller male one on his right was FN-3627 and the shorter female one on his right was FN-2492. It was difficult to remember their codenames so he mentally referred to them as ThreeSix and TwoFour.</p><p>They walked through the many halls and corridors of the ground floor of the headquarters, following the abrupt turns of the mouse droid, until it finally stopped in front of a lift. The doors slid open and they walked in, turning to face the doors, ready to exit.</p><p>The doors slid closed. Kylo expected sudden movement but the lift stayed there. He looked at ThreeSix who was closest to the lift controls. The trooper was looking at the buttons and hovering a finger in front of a few, as if he wasn’t sure as to which one to press.</p><p>‘B7, soldier,’ said TwoFour. The helmet altered her voice but he could tell she was anxious.</p><p>‘Yes, of course,’ said the right trooper, pressing the button labelled B7 immediately. The lift began to descend.</p><p>Kylo looked at him curiously. He could sense the trooper’s anxiety. ‘FN-3627, is there a problem?’</p><p>‘It’s just that we finally got him, Supreme Leader,’ said TwoFour, answering for him. ‘The infamous Poe Dameron. How many of us has he killed? FN-3627 is just excited that’s all.’</p><p>ThreeSix nodded. ‘Yeah, that’s right, sir— I mean, your Excellency.’</p><p>Kylo considered probing his mind with the Force but in the end decided against it. They were people and they had emotions too. He trusted the trooper. Besides, the trooper had a point. The Resistance had killed thousands of stormtroopers. It was only human for them to be excited about having captured the man responsible.</p><p>The lift stopped and the doors opened, revealing the Detainment floor. Another mouse droid was on the floor in front of them, labelled <em>B7</em>. The droid beeped at them and set off. Kylo and the troopers followed. They would need its help to find the right cell.</p><p>The detainment area was highly guarded. It was different to a typical prison on Coruscant as it housed major Resistance members, consisting of hallways full of cells. Each individual imprisoned here had either been a known Resistance fighter, aided the organisation or even been heard talking about the Resistance. </p><p>The cells were highly advanced. They were built to be Jedi-proof. The thick metal doors were made of alloys that had high resistance to lightsabers, built into a complex frame system that made Pushing the door open with the Force near impossible. Each cell contained an interrogation droid that regularly tortured the prisoner inside for more information. He would be able to hear their screams if it wasn’t for the soundproofed walls.</p><p>Kylo didn’t like it but it was necessary to win the war.</p><p>
  <em>Soon it will be over. All I have to do is take down the Resistance and this won't need to happen anymore.</em>
</p><p>The <em>B7</em> mouse droid stopped in front of a cell guarded by two stormtroopers. ThreeSix and TwoFour signaled to the guards, relieving them of their duty and taking their place by the door.</p><p>‘Wait out here,’ said Kylo, moving to press the external door control. ‘I need to be alone with the prisoner.’</p><p>They nodded, almost to each other rather than him. Kylo ignored them and pressed the control. The thick metal door slid up to reveal Poe Dameron strapped to an interrogation chair in the middle of the room. An interrogation droid hovered in the corner, ready to be used. Kylo entered, the door sliding shut behind him.</p><p>Poe smiled. ‘Hey there buddy. Long time no see.’</p><p>Kylo throttled him with the Force. The smile disappeared as he struggled for air, his face becoming more strained and red. Kylo released his grip and knelt beside Poe as he gasped heavily. He didn’t waste anytime. Kylo let his hatred for Dameron bubble inside, launching it at the man’s mind. He screamed as Kylo ravaged through his memories as he had done once before after capturing him on Jakku.</p><p>He visualised the same galaxy of memory he always did when Force Probing. Poe’s galaxy was brighter than it had been the last time, bursting full of new memories emanating adrenaline, danger and excitement. Taking down Starkiller Base, weaving in and out of the turret fire from a dreadnought, narrowly surviving annihilation during the Battle of Crait. All of Kylo’s defeats had been his victories.</p><p>Kylo’s hatred of Poe grew and he attacked his mind more viciously. Poe screamed and wrestled against his restraints, desperate to be free of the chair. Kylo came across a certain memory. Poe’s first meeting with Finn. They had hijacked a TIE fighter and narrowly escaped to Jakku. Despite the threat of being obliterated by enemy fire, the main feeling Kylo felt from the memory was one of joy and a familiar warmth. It was the same warmth Kylo had felt earlier with Lana. </p><p><em>Could it be love?</em> thought Kylo. It would be a useful thread to exploit if the Force Probe didn’t work. He had been told by Hux that Finn was being held somewhere else in the Detainment area. Perhaps the Poe would respond to threats against his lover.</p><p>Kylo put those thoughts to the side and focused on finding a specific memory. The location of the Resistance base. He pushed towards the areas of Poe’s mind that gave the most resistance, reaching an impassable block.</p><p><em>He’s been shielded!</em> thought Kylo, silently cursing to himself. He had forgotten General Organa was a Force wielder with thirty years of experience in the more subtle usages of the power. Of course she would have protected secret information in Poe’s mind somehow. </p><p>There had to be a way past the block. Poe screamed louder as Kylo pushed against it. He pushed harder. Poe’s mind began to fade slightly. Kylo was killing him. Poe’s mind was about to fade completely but Kylo pulled out at the last second. </p><p>He stood and signalled to the droid in the corner. ‘Interrogation droid, administer immediate medical procedure.’</p><p>The black ball of metal hovered over to a slumped-over Poe and tended to him.</p><p><em>Threats against Finn it is then</em>, thought Kylo, opening the door and stepping into the hallway. </p><p>The cell doors were open.</p><p>A huge mass of muscle and fur tackled him to the ground. Before he could even react,  it picked him up and threw him into the empty cell opposite Poe’s. Kylo landed with a thud and slid across the smooth floor, colliding with the interrogation chair in the middle of the cell. His assailant got on top of him, pinning him to the ground.</p><p> Kylo looked up to see a wookiee looming over him, trapping the lightsaber on his waist under a heavy brown-fur coated leg. It roared and pounded on Kylo’s chest, winding him. He couldn’t even yell when he heard the crack of his ribs breaking.</p><p>Kylo couldn’t Force Push it off. The beast was too close. It could grab him and take him with it. Instead, he channeled the Force onto his lightsaber, twisting it to point upward. He ignited it, screaming as one of the saber’s laser quillions pierced into his waist. The wookiee roared as the red blade burst out of the top of it’s leg. Using the opportunity, Kylo pushed it back. The lightsaber sliced free from it’s leg and it hit the floor, clutching it’s leg and roaring wildly.</p><p>Kylo deactivated the saber and sprang to his feet, using his rage to power through the pain in his side. He stepped closer to the wounded beast and pointed the hilt of his weapon at the it’s head. It looked him dead in the eye, glaring at him with an intensity he had never felt before. There was no hint of fear. It reminded him of another fierce wookiee. One he had grown up with.</p><p><em>The past is the past</em>, thought Kylo.The wookiee roared and lunged at him  With a tap of the saber’s ignition, the blade shot into the wookie’s skull, ending the beast’s roars.</p><p>He was safe— for now. Someone had freed the prisoners. Probably a Resistance agent sent by General Organa who had infiltrated the Intelligence headquarters somehow, hoping to kill the Supreme Leader whilst he was down here. If this was the extent of the assassination, it was a poor attempt. Kylo would dispatch of the escaped prisoners easily. He went towards the door and pressed the control.</p><p>The door didn’t open.</p><p>They had locked him in. The agent must have infiltrated the Warden’s office in order to open all the doors, meaning they could just as easily lock them. It wasn’t just an assassination attempt, it was something much more.</p><p>The cell was sound-proofed but if he put his ear to the door, he could hear the muffled sound of blaster fire. A battle between stormtroopers and the escaped prisoners must have been raging on. But why was there even a fight? Thousands of stormtroopers defended the headquarters, far outnumbering the prisoners. Why aren’t the troopers of the Detainment area being reinforced?</p><p>It meant they were needed elsewhere.</p><p>Kylo’s face sank. There was no way a Resistance army could reach the planet unnoticed. That only left one explanation. The planet was in rebellion.</p><p>He signalled to the interrogation droid in the cell to tend to his injury as he ignited his saber, plunging it into the thick metal of the door, slowly cutting a way out. </p><p>
  <em>I need to get to Lana.</em>
</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Prisoner (2/2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Finn took off his stormtrooper helmet and wiped the sweat from his brow. ‘We did it!’ he said, sighing in relief and sinking back in the Warden’s chair.</p><p>‘Nice work, Three-Six,’ said Rose, standing beside him. ‘You nearly gave us away in the lift but you managed to redeem yourself.’</p><p> He couldn’t believe they actually managed to infiltrate the First Order. Finn had thought General Organa was crazy when she first suggested the plan of inciting a rebellion on Coruscant. The Resistance could barely fight them in the Outer Rim, never mind on their home planet.</p><p>To his surprise, most of the leaders agreed with her. They had said that the Resistance were too weak to face the First Order head on. The regime had the advantage in sheer numbers and technology. They had to be beaten from within. </p><p>The plan wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for their mysterious contact aiding them with important intel. A mole within the First Order. Over the past year, the mole had helped the Resistance nurture the citizens of Coruscant had into a hidden Resistance army. Criminal organisations and the poor were eager to be rid of the First Order’s tyranny.</p><p>Finn had been the most surprised when he was told that he was the key to the rebellion. Finn’s past life as a stormtrooper made him the perfect infiltrator. He had trained Rose how to act, walk and talk like a stormtrooper until she seemed like she had come straight out of the academy herself. The Resistance had then sent out a transmission of a false attack on Kuat. Letting the First Order know that Poe Dameron himself was leading the attack would make the interception too sweet to resist. </p><p>It was only when they were intercepted and Poe was taken away that Finn found out who the mole was.</p><p><em>Poe!</em> remembered Finn. He stood and looked at Rose. ‘What if Kylo killed him?’</p><p>‘No way,’ said Rose. ‘He has to have kept him alive, the Force block Leia put in his brain should have held.’</p><p>‘Let’s get him out of there before Kylo breaks out.’</p><p>They picked up their blasters and left the Warden’s office, bounding down the halls to Poe’s cell. Bodies of stormtrooper and prisoner alike covered the floors. Finn heard the distant sounds of blaster fire. The prisoners had pushed the First Order back to the deactivated lifts. He didn’t know how many prisoners he had freed, but there sure was a whole lot of buttons on the control room console. </p><p>The prisoners most likely outnumbered the stormtroopers, explaining how they managed to push them back so far whilst being less armed. He knew it wouldn’t last though. There were far more prisoner bodies cluttering the halls than stormtrooper bodies. Eventually, the prisoners would be defeated.<br/>However, the fact that reinforcements from the rest of the complex hadn’t come to help the troopers of the Detainment floor was how he knew that the rebellion was working. </p><p>The plan was simple. Take the Core. The Core was what General Leia called the area where the Intelligence headquarters were located. Once Poe was detained inside the headquarters and Kylo had descended to the Detainment area, Finn and Rose would give the signal to the Resistance hiding all over the planet. The soldiers were to flood the Core and take key positions, the assault carefully planned by General Organa.</p><p>Finn, Poe and Rose’s job was to keep Kylo Ren from joining the battle as long as they could. The Supreme Leader would be eager to probe Poe’s mind, personally coming down all the down to the Detainment area to interrogate Poe. This presented the perfect opportunity to ambush him. Whilst Ren was inside interrogating Poe, Finn and Rose had freed all the other prisoners. The Intelligence headquarters was well known to house Resistance sympathisers and General Organa had bet that once freed they would be eager to pay back all the pain inflicted on them.</p><p>They arrived outside Poe’s cell. Opposite his cell, they saw the cell Kylo was locked in. The blade of his lightsaber poked out of the door, slowly making its way through the metal . So far he had only cut half a side of the door.</p><p>‘He’ll be out in a few minutes,’ said Rose.</p><p>‘Stupid Wookiee,’ said Finn sadly. ‘All he had to do was throw him in. Why did he have to try and kill him?’</p><p>‘Who knows what Kylo Ren did to him. I guess he just wanted revenge.’</p><p>‘We’ll get him, Rose. Kylo will pay for all the people he’s killed,’ said Finn, raising a hand to the Poe’s cell door control.</p><p> <em>Please be alive</em>, he thought as he pressed the control. The door opened to reveal Poe strapped into a chair with an interrogation droid injecting his arm with a syringe full of pale liquid. He smiled upon seeing Finn.</p><p>‘INTRUDER ALERT’, buzzed the droid in a metallic voice, turning its red glowing eye towards Finn and Rose. ‘UNAUTHORISED ACCESS OF HIGH PRIORITY CELL.’ <br/>Sharp torture devices popped out of the droid. Wicked blades and electrified piercers pointed at the two of them. With a screech, the droid charged towards them. Finn raised his blaster and shot the droid right in the eye. It exploded and fell to the floor just before it reached them.</p><p>Finn sighed. ‘That was clo— </p><p> A barrage of blasts hit the droid, reducing it to a molten ball of scrap. A startled Finn turned to look at Rose and her smoking blaster.</p><p>‘Just to make sure,’ she said with the same startled look on her face. </p><p>Finn rushed towards Poe, freeing him from the restraints. They hugged each other tightly. </p><p>‘He doesn’t know, Finn,’ said Poe. ‘Leia’s block held.’</p><p>‘I’m just glad that you’re safe,’ said Finn. ‘He could have killed you trying to rip the information out of your head.’</p><p>Rose also rushed over and hugged Poe. ‘What did that droid inject you with?’ she asked, inspecting the needle wound on his arm.</p><p>‘No idea. Some recovery drug that keep prisoners going during an interrogation I guess. I actually feel a lot better now,’ said Poe. He got to his feet and nearly fell over from dizziness but Finn grabbed him just in time. </p><p>‘Doesn’t seem like it,’ said Finn.</p><p>‘He clawed his way into my mind. Just as we predicted,’ said Poe, putting an arm around Finn’s neck for support. ‘Felt like my head was going to burst—but I’m fine now. Trust me.’ </p><p>His face became serious. ‘When he was rooting around up there, he didn’t protect himself from me. I managed to find out something about him instead.’<br/>‘What?’ said Rose.</p><p>‘It was strange. I’m not some magical Force user, but I saw—or felt something. Something extremely dominant in his mind. There’s this girl. She’s called…Lana, I think. Kylo kinda has a thing for her.’</p><p>Finn was confused. <em>Kylo Ren has a girlfriend?</em></p><p>‘How does that help us?' he asked.</p><p>‘That’s all that was on his mind. I’m serious. That’s all I could sense from him— as if it’s the only thing he cared about. She’s in the Quarter’s building. I reckon the first thing he’s going to do in all this chaos is make sure she’s safe.’ said Poe, walking free of Finn. He paced to the other end of the cell as if he was thinking something over in his head. </p><p>Rose stepped towards him. Finn noticed a hint of fear in her eyes. ‘What are you trying to say, Poe?’</p><p>‘What I’m trying to say is that I know where he’s headed. If I can get to her before he does I can set a trap…with her as bait.’</p><p>Finn was beginning to understand what Poe was trying to do. ‘There’s no way we can capture him, Poe. I know you know that— and you keep saying ‘I’ instead of ‘we’, so how about you be straight with us and tell us what the hell you’re really planning.’</p><p>‘There’s bound to be explosives somewhere, Finn,’ said Poe. ‘This is our chance to kill him.’</p><p>‘Are you crazy, Poe? Our mission was keep Kylo from the fight and let the Resistance army do the rest of the work. We’ve done that! Now we just need to get out of here and join the fight,’ said Rose.</p><p>‘You want to kill yourself and an innocent just for a chance to kill Kylo?’ said Finn.</p><p>’You know that once he gets this girl to safety, he’ll join the fight himself. We won’t stand a chance then. General Leia told us to stop Kylo by any means possible. This is any means.’ said Poe coldly.</p><p>‘We don’t win this way!’ cried Rose. ‘We win by saving what we love. Not destroying what we hate— </p><p>Poe grabbed Rose by her shoulders. ‘This is war, Rose! Do you know how many of my friends I’ve seen killed because of Kylo? Hell, sometimes he flies out and guns them down himself! I’ve seen cities bombarded by his Star Destroyers, all because they were suspected to harbor Resistance fighters! There is no way we can win this by playing nice!’ </p><p>Finn looked at Poe in shock. He had never seen this side of him before. Finn struggled to rationalise it. Maybe it was because of Kylo filling his brain with dark Force energy? Or maybe, a year of brutal war had changed Poe, and Finn was only seeing it now.</p><p>Poe continued. ‘ I have an opportunity to take him out for good here. I know you will try to stop me. You both will. So forgive me for what I’m about to do.’</p><p>Poe took Rose’s blaster rifle and pushed her to the floor. Before Finn could react, the butt of the rifle collided with his face, sending him hurtling back. <br/>By the time Finn got up, Poe was outside the cell, his hand was on the external door controls. </p><p>‘Stop!’ yelled Finn. </p><p>‘I’m sorry, Finn,’ said Poe. ‘I love you.’</p><p>Finn shot forward but he was too late. Poe pressed the control and the door slammed shut. He tried pressing every button on the internal door controls but the screen flashed with a red light.</p><p>They were locked in.<br/> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Battle for Coruscant (1/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo ducked backed behind cover, narrowly dodging a blaster bolt aimed for his head. He had just arrived at the exit and finally seen the extent of the rebellion. The Resistance had pinned down the remaining First Order forces inside the Intelligence headquarters. </p><p>Once Kylo cut his way out of the cell, he had rushed to Poe’s cell for answers, finding it empty. He then stormed to the exit, quickly dispatching the freed prisoners as he went. He reactivated the lifts via the Warden’s office, allowing him and the surviving stormtroopers to ascend from the Detainment area to ground level. Kylo had planned to immediately travel to the Quarter’s building and make sure Lana was safe, but there was no way of getting out. They were trapped.</p><p>He peeked a head out from behind the pillar he was leaning against and looked at the hundreds of enemies firing back at him. It would be impossible for him to Freeze that much blaster fire with the Force and he definitely couldn’t parry them all. The Resistance would concentrate fire on him as soon as they saw the light of his red blade.</p><p>Stormtroopers had set up feeble fortifications outside the headquarters, but there was no way they could fend them off for long. The Resistance had also re-purposed civilian skycars to drop explosives and blaster fire from above, acting as an improvised air assault. They far outnumbered the First Order police skycars so Pryde had ordered TIE fighters to be scrambled from his orbiting fleet. However, they were not effective. Skycars were designed to weave between skyscrapers and narrow spaces, far outmaneuvering the TIE fighters. Every step of the Resistance’s assault had been carefully planned.</p><p>Kylo leaned against the wall, racking his brain for ideas. The Supreme Council were bunkered down behind the reception desk. Pryde and Grint relayed orders to the troopers and Sloane tried to contact the orbiting Fleet. Sylvian and other non-military council members looked like they were about to cry. <br/>
Kylo looked at Hux, who was standing behind the pillar on the opposite side of the entrance.</p><p>‘What are your orders, Supreme Leader?’ said Hux. His usually pale face was red from constantly screaming orders.</p><p>‘Coruscant is lost, Hux,’ said Kylo. ‘Mobilise the transport ships. After I retrieve Lana, we shall engage in a full retreat to the orbiting fleets.’</p><p>‘The Naboo ambassador? Sir, she’s hardly a necessary— </p><p>‘She is!’</p><p>‘Y-yes, your Excellency,’ said Hux. ‘I agree we should retreat but the Resistance have destroyed all the transport ships. They want it to end the war tonight.’<br/>
Rage swelled in Kylo. ‘Order transports from the orbiting fleets to descend to the planet. Have the TIE fighters to form an escort.’</p><p>‘‘Supreme Leader, there is only a limited amount of transports on the ships. We won’t be able to take everyone.’</p><p>‘Give priority to the Supreme Council and higher ranking officers. Once they’re on board, take as many stormtroopers as we can.’</p><p>Hux nodded, then retreated inside to relay the orders to Sloane. That sorted out the retreat plan. Kylo still needed to figure out a way to get to Lana. He only had limited time until the transports got here. Once they landed, the Resistance would target them for destruction. They would have to lift off quickly.</p><p>A cluster of stormtroopers were consumed by fire as a bomb was dropped at their feet from above.</p><p>Kylo’ s eyes widened. <em>That’s how I can get to Lana. </em></p><p>He quickly stepped out of the entrance and ignited his saber. The Resistance noticed the red glow of his saber in the dark and blaster fire started to come towards him. He deflected every shot but the rate of fire began to increase. He couldn’t keep it up for long.</p><p>Several skycars flew towards him as he expected, his saber acting as a beacon in the dark luring them closer. He channeled his rage and stretched his hand out at a skycar on the left, using the Force to grab it. The boosters flared as the driver tried to wrench his vehicle free from the invisible grip. He dragged his hand downwards and the skycar followed, plummeting towards the rows of Resistance fighters. </p><p>A blaster bolt hit his thigh. He sank to his knees as searing pain cursed through his leg. He had received treatment for the lightsaber wound he received earlier but it still hurt. Now he was injured further. He had to push through it, or else Lana would die—if she wasn’t dead already.</p><p>He heard the voice of Hux yelling behind him and stormtroopers rushed forward, pressing the disarrayed Resistance ranks. The skycars began to speed away after they saw what happened to the one Kylo grabbed, but one wheeled back around, probably trying to capitalise on a vulnerable Kylo Ren. </p><p>Just what Kylo had been counting on. He stood, using the dark side to suppress his pain. Imbuing his legs with the Force, he jumped towards the skycar, pulling at it with the Force at the same time. He landed on the hood, causing the car to dip down due to the sudden weight. It threatened to slip him off but he placed a hand on the open top windshield and Pulled the control wheel upwards, yanking the skycar upwards and narrowly avoiding the vehicle crashing to the ground.</p><p>Kylo looked up and and saw the faces of three startled Resistance fighters looking back at him through the windshield. Two in the back pulled out blasters. Kylo Pushed them away with a powerful wave of Force energy before they could fire, their screams slowly fading as they fell from the skycar. </p><p>The driver trembled as he pulled out his blaster. Kylo froze him in place with the Force, vaulting over the hood and shifting him to the front passenger seat. He took the wheel and unfroze him. The man gasped as he realised he could move again, raising his blaster at his assailant. </p><p>Kylo didn’t have time for mercy. He put a hand to the driver’s face and Pushed him away, watching as his body hurtled over the side of the car. The car buckled from the loss of weight but Kylo managed to get it back in control.</p><p>He saw the Quarters building ahead to his right. It was heavily damaged, with parts of it on fire. The skycars had obviously included it in their bombing of the Federal District. His floor at the top was destroyed entirely, with floors beneath it consumed in fire. </p><p>Lana’s room was two floors beneath his. He couldn’t fly directly next to it due to the amount of explosives on his skycar. If the flames ignited them, he wouldn’t be able to save anybody. Instead, he flew to a floor below it that wasn’t on fire. Hovering the car next to the window, he Pushed at the glass, shattering it into a thousand pieces. </p><p>He jumped from the car into the building.</p><p>*</p><p>The halls were ablaze with fire. Kylo stormed towards Lana’s room, sweat dripping down his face from the heat. The flames licked at him but he kept them at bay with a small bubble of Force power. </p><p>Kylo knew the elevator would be disabled so he ignored it and took the stairs up to Lana’s floor. When he finally arrived, he felt like collapsing. The pain from the wounds in his side and leg were almost unbearable. Yet, still he pushed on. </p><p><em>I have to save her</em>, he thought. <em>I don’t care what happens to me, I just have to save her.</em></p><p>Kylo continued on to Lana’s room. He could sense her presence. A trembling aura of fear emanated from her. </p><p>She was in danger. </p><p>He broke into a stumbling run and arrived at her door. It was eerily quite. He pressed the control and the doors slid open.</p><p>Lana stood in the middle of the room, held hostage by Poe Dameron who was behind her. He had an arm around her neck and was pointing a gun at her head.</p><p>Kylo ignited his lightsaber. ‘Let go of her!’</p><p>Poe put his finger on the trigger. ‘Don’t try anything or I’ll shoot!’</p><p>Kylo couldn’t use the Force to separate them or freeze Poe. He was holding on to her too tightly and he couldn’t risk Poe pulling the trigger at the slightest hint of the Force. He would have to find another way. Kylo could see the fear in Poe’s eyes. The hesitation… </p><p>‘You’ve never killed someone before have you?’ said Kylo, composing himself.</p><p>‘What?’ said Poe. ‘Of course I have.’</p><p>‘I don’t mean stormtroopers, Dameron. You’ve killed thousands of them—but they’re the “enemy”.  You’ve never killed an innocent have you?’</p><p>Poe paused.</p><p> ‘You don’t have it in you,’ said Kylo. ‘Drop the gun and I’ll spare you.’</p><p>‘Step inside the room,’ said Poe. Beads of sweat dripped down his nervous face. </p><p>Lana’s terrified eyes widened. ‘No, Kylo! Don’t—’</p><p>Poe quickly covered her mouth, reducing her plea to a muffled noise. ‘Step inside. Now!’</p><p>Kylo hesitated. The light from the hallway only illuminated the middle of the room where Poe and Lana stood, the rest of the room remained dark. He didn’t know what awaited him. </p><p>Poe noticed Kylo’s hesitance. ‘By any means,’ he whispered to himself. He pointed his blaster to Lana’s leg and fired. Lana screamed and thrashed about in pain, but was stopped from slumping to the floor by Poe’s tight grip.</p><p>Kylo roared and charged into the room. Poe pushed Lana at him, halting Kylo’s charge as he stopped to catch her in his arms. He looked at Lana. She had lost consciousness. </p><p>He looked back at Poe, powerless to stop him from pulling a remote from his belt and pressing it’s button. Beeping sounds came from the darkness of the room. Red blinking lights illuminated boxes of explosive devices littering the room. The beeping sounds accelerated.</p><p>Kylo had walked into a trap. </p><p>‘No! Please! She’ll die!’ screamed Kylo.</p><p>Poe closed his eyes. Kylo rushed to shield Lana with his body. It was the only thing he could do. The room exploded and fire engulfed them all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hi :)<br/>Getting busy with uni work. Kinda sucks and I don't know if I'll be able to maintain the daily updates, but I enjoy writing so I'll try. All of it is written anyway except the last few chapters, so all I have to do is clean up a chapter everyday and post :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Battle for Coruscant (2/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The First Order was well and truly trapped. Finn and Rose were hunkered down behind a fortification outside the Intelligence headquarters along with hundreds of other stormtroopers. Blaster fire streaked over their heads.</p><p><em>Damn it Poe! This wasn’t the plan!</em> he thought.</p><p>After a while of fiddling, Rose had used the battery of the cell’s destroyed interrogation droid to overload the control panel of the cell door, forcing it open. They saw the molten hole cut into the door of the cell Kylo was trapped in. Following his path of carnage, they had slipped in amongst the reinforcements coming from the battle with the prisoners, donning their stormtrooper disguises once more.</p><p>They saw Kylo Ren charge out from the headquarters, sending a skycar hurtling towards the Resistance lines and allowing the stormtroopers to charge forward and gain more ground. He had then jumped aboard another skycar somehow and flown away, probably going to protect the girl Poe was after. After seeing that, Finn realised that even the small amount of time they had kept Kylo from the battle had been worth it. Their rebellion would have been over before it even started if they hadn’t.</p><p>‘These scum just won’t quit,’ said a stormtrooper next to them, scorch marks tainting the white of his helmet. The voice alteration of his helmet failed to hide his youth.</p><p>‘Yeah,’ said Finn, sweating underneath his stormtrooper helmet. Finn didn’t bother to remember the stormtrooper’s codename, instead referring to him as Scorch. He had stayed particularly close to them, probably mistaking their silence for similar nervousness he was feeling. He was most likely a recent acadamy graduate. This was probably his first ever time in real combat.</p><p>Rose fired a few blaster shots then ducked back down. They had been purposefully missing their shots so that they wouldn’t harm any Resistance fighters. So far no one had noticed because of all the chaos.</p><p>‘Yeah— I sure hate these Resistance scum!’ said Rose, nervously looking around to see if anyone noticed how purposefully bad her aim was.</p><p>‘These transports are taking their time,’ said Scorch. ‘Officer Vadley said the Resistance destroyed the transport ships on the ground. But there’s no way the transports being sent from the defense fleet are going to be able to take all of us. Some of us are going to be left here.’</p><p>‘Gotta follow our orders, soldier,’ replied Finn. He was sure the troopers would be spared. After the higher ranking officers left on the transports, the Resistance would control Coruscant and any troopers who surrendered would be given amnesty.</p><p>‘You’re right I guess,’ said Scorch. Finn could sense the dejection through his helmet modulated voice. He felt sorry for the stormtroopers. They were brainwashed from birth to carry out the First Order’s sinister plans, having no choice to make for themselves. Finn had rejected his training when he saw the atrocities that he would have to be complicit in. However, it seemed like he had been the only one to ever do so.</p><p>Finn shook himself and focused on the matter at hand. Rose had to find a way to switch sides. They had to somehow shed their disguises and avoid getting shot by either side. Only then would they be able to look for Poe.</p><p>A murmur spread amongst the troops as they looked towards the sky. Finn looked up go see the distant lights of the transport ship convoy in the night sky, flanked by swarms of TIE fighters.</p><p>‘Troopers!’ said the distant voice of General Hux at the headquarters entrance. ‘The transports must be protected! Push back the Resistance scum! Charge!’</p><p>Officers supervising their clusters of stormtroopers repeated his orders again, ushering the troopers to flood out from behind the fortifications and swarm the Resistance position. Finn and Rose were forced to join the charge. They would be shot by the officers for insubordination if they didn’t.</p><p><em>This is suicide! </em>thought Finn, looking back as the transports landed in front of the entrance. Higher ranking officials uniformed in black and white boarded them quickly. <em>The Supreme Council is just trying to save themselves!</em></p><p>‘To the side!’ said Rose. He followed her voice, barely keeping track of her through all the chaos. Blaster fire hit the troopers in front of them, their lifeless bodies collapsing to the floor. The Resistance fired destructive laser cannons blindly into the crowd, the explosions sending stormtroopers flying and separating limbs from bodies.</p><p>Finn noticed Scorch was following them as they ran away from the battle. </p><p>‘Good idea,’ said Scorch. ‘We’ll flank them!’</p><p>The youth spoke with a newfound determination in his voice. He thought they had come up with some plan to defeat the Resistance.</p><p><em>This is bad. This is really bad</em>, thought Finn. They’d never be able to shed their disguises and escape if they had a stormtrooper following them. </p><p>Finn ducked a blaster shot that aimed for his head. Their attempt to flee the battle had been noticed by Resistance soldiers. Rose had reached a side street that provided cover from the battle but it was too late. A soldier mounted on a laser cannon swiveled the barrel towards Finn and Scorch. He wouldn’t reach cover in time. Finn closed his eyes, embracing his fate.</p><p>The cannon fired. </p><p>A white blur collided with him and he was pushed to the side. The cannon blast hit where he had been standing and the shockwave sent Finn hurtling into the side street where Rose caught him, sending them both to the ground.</p><p>By some miracle he was unharmed. Finn looked back at the carnage. Scorch lay on the scorched ground in agony. The boy had saved Finn’s live, pushing him out of the way before the blast could hit him. The cannon blast had hit him directly in the chest, taking a chunk out of him. His white plastoid breastplate had been melted into a grisly black. Scorch screamed as the melted material dripped into the smoking hole in his chest. </p><p>Finn tried to run to him but Rose held him back.<br/>‘If you go back out there, you’ll die too!’ she said, struggling to restrain him.</p><p>He hated to admit it, but Rose was right. It took everything he had to stop himself from running out there. </p><p>Scorch lifted off his helmet and gasped for air, taking deep struggled breaths. Underneath was a baby-faced youth with a shaven head. He looked no more than 13 years old.</p><p><em>He's just a kid,</em> thought Finn as he clenched his fists. <em>He’s too young! He should still be in the Academy! </em></p><p>The First Order must have fast-tracked the stormtrooper training process by introducing a younger graduation age. All in order to raise stormtrooper numbers. Finn reeled at the thought of many of the stormtroopers fighting and dying today being barely teenagers. </p><p>Finn searched for someone to blame. Someone specific to target his anger towards. It was the Supreme Council’s decision, but no decision was made without consent of the Supreme Leader. Maybe Poe had been right, maybe Kylo Ren had to be taken out at any cost.</p><p>Scorch looked at him. His eyes wide in pure pain and fear, begging for help. </p><p>Finn raised his blaster and aimed for the boys head. ‘I’m sorry, kid,’ he said, the tears in his eyes making it hard for him to aim.</p><p>He pulled the trigger and Scorch’s pain stopped.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Battle for Coruscant (3/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Finn arrived at the pile of rubble that used to be the the Quarters building. They had been just around the corner when the top of the building exploded, causing it to collapse into itself.</p><p>‘No! We’re too late!’ cried Rose.</p><p>Finn was speechless. Poe couldn’t be gone. His feelings of shock was contrasted by the Resistance fighters surrounding the Core Square, celebrating the victory. The transports had evacuated the Supreme Council and around half the stormtroopers. The abandoned stormtroopers had been ordered to fight to the death. A one sided battle followed. The Resistance with superior numbers and positions massacred the soldiers. After their numbers had reduced by half again, the troopers finally lost morale and surrendered.</p><p>Finn felt something. </p><p><em>No, he’s not gone</em>, he thought. It was a slight feeling. An instinct in his mind. He dropped his blaster file and climbed up onto the pile of rubble.</p><p>‘Finn! What are you doing?’ shouted Rose.</p><p>‘I can sense him, Rose. He’s still alive!’ replied Finn, as he stumbled through the debris of the building. Finn ran through it, following his instinct. He felt a small pulse. Quiet but still there. He ran towards the pulse, nearly falling over due to the constantly shifting rubble under his feet. </p><p>He saw a hand sticking out from underneath a pile of debris, the sleeve matching the jacket Poe wore.</p><p> Finn rushed over and pulled away the rocks . ‘Rose! Help! He’s here!’ </p><p>He pulled the hand free, and looked at the arm dangling before him. Blood dripped from the other end. Finn screamed and let go of it, falling backwards.<br/> Rose came over and saw what Finn had uncovered, her face twisted in horror. </p><p>‘No,’ said Finn. ‘No, no, no. I sensed something. I sensed he was alive. He can’t be—</p><p>‘Wait! I see something,’ said Rose, looking down at the area of rubble Finn had uncovered. Finn rushed over and looked down. He saw the leather of Poe’s jacket, hidden underneath the rubble.</p><p>‘He’s down there!’ said Finn, scrambling to throw away the debris on covering Poe. Slowly, they began to uncover him. Finn lifted a final rock to reveal Poe’s burned and bloody face. He was badly injured—a bloody stump was where his right arm was supposed to be—but still alive. Finn lifted him out and cradled him in his arms.</p><p> Poe opened his eyes slightly and looked up at Finn, smiling weakly. ‘I did it, Finn.’</p><p>‘Yes, you did,’ said Finn, eyes welling up with tears. In the end, Poe had been right. They couldn’t have taken the planet without Kylo Ren being taken care of. He saw the damage Kylo did in just a few seconds of action. Surely, they would have been slaughtered if he joined the battle fully.</p><p>‘Let’s get him to a medical droid,’ said Rose. </p><p>Finn nodded in agreement. Poe needed to be treated immediately or he would die from his injuries. Finn grabbed Poe under the shoulders and went to pull him out. </p><p>Something pulled back. </p><p>Finn felt something grabbing Poe’s leg. Something powerful and dark. A pile of rubble in the distance in front stirred. The rocks lifted into the air and thrown aside, revealing Kylo Ren on his knees, his arm outstretched towards Poe. He was shielding a woman who looked relatively unharmed compared to Kylo, who’s black garb had been burnt off revealing raw skin covered in blistering burns. His face was similarly burnt and his hair was completely gone, melted away in the explosion. Bloodshot eyes locked on to Poe with a crazed glare of pure hatred. </p><p>Finn pulled harder on Poe but to no avail. ‘Run!’ he shouted at Rose. ‘Get help!’</p><p>Rose didn’t listen. She raised her blaster in rage, aiming it at Kylo. Kylo lifted moved his outstretched hand towards her and Rose went hurtling backwards into the air. Kylo cringed in pain and dropped down, unable to keep himself on his knees. Finn quickly dragged Poe further away as far as he could but the force pulling him back returned before he could get too far. He looked back to see Kylo stretching his hand out, eyes fixated on Poe. </p><p>Finn felt the dark energy gripping Poe’s legs increasing in intensity. Poe groaned weakly as the pressure on his legs grew stronger. Kylo was trying to kill him. Finn tried pulling harder. It was useless.</p><p>Poe raised a blaster from his remaining hand and shot at Kylo. The blaster bolt streaked over Kylo’s head. Poe was in too much pain to aim accurately. He shot again multiple times. One blast headed straight towards Kylo.</p><p>It stopped right before hitting him, frozen in the air.</p><p>‘Go, Finn,’ said Poe through gritted teeth. ‘Leave me and get help! He won’t be able to defend himself in that state. You could end this right here!’</p><p>‘No!’ yelled Finn. ‘If I leave he’ll kill you!’</p><p>Kylo roared and Finn heard cracking. Poe screamed in agony. Finn uselessly pulled as he watched the bones protrude from Poe’s mangled legs. Kylo didn’t stop. He wouldn’t stop until he crushed Poe completely.</p><p> Poe lifted the blaster to his chin and looked at Finn. ‘I love you,’ he said, tears welling in his pained eyes. He pulled the trigger. </p><p>Finn was too late to stop him. He pried the blaster from his hands and fired multiple shots at Kylo. They all froze just before reaching him. Finn went to shoot more but he suddenly froze, unable to move.</p><p>Three figures descended from the sky and landed with a thud on the debris. They were all wreathed in black and helmeted. Similar to how Kylo dressed. Their dark eyeslits glared at Finn. </p><p><em>The Knights of Ren</em>, thought Finn. One of the tall bulky figures picked up an unconscious Kylo, whilst a smaller male figure picked up the woman. The remaining figure was female. She kept her shadowy gaze on Finn, with a hand outstretched towards him. She was probably the one freezing him in place.<br/>A sleek black ship slowly lowered itslef onto the debris. Finn hadn’t noticed it coming in all the chaos. The two male Knights carried Kylo and the woman into the ship. Finn looked at the Knight in front of him as she pulled out a vibroblade. She was going to kill him surely. He almost didn’t care.</p><p><em>Atleast I’ll be with Poe</em>.</p><p>Finn heard the sound of numerous footsteps over the rubble. ‘There! Target the ship!’ said the voice of Rose. The Knight turned and ran, releasing her Force grip on him. Finn turned to see a group of Resistance soldiers led by Rose cresting the pile of rubble, all aiming their blaster rifles at the Knight and their ship.<br/>They fired. The female Knight dashed at an inhuman speed towards the ship. She dodged the blaster fire and closes the ramp of the ship just in time. The ships engines flared to life as the ship lifted off into the sky. Resistance fighters with rocket launchers fired at the ship, but it flared its boosters at the last second, narrowly missing the rockets and flying away into space.</p><p>Rose ran over to Finn and they both cried over Poe’s body.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>rip :(</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Aftermath</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The holocomm device shut off and Rey let the tears flow. Leia had just informed her of the result of the rebellion on Coruscant. It was a success. The Resistance had won and the First Order had fled from the planet. However, despite the victory, Rey was devastated. It had come at too great a cost. Poe had been killed by Kylo Ren.</p><p>She cried all night, sat on the sands of the beach watching the tide come in.</p><p>Hours passed and she looked up to see the sun rising over the sea, the early morning rays reflecting off the water. The sadness in Rey was replaced by a deep anger. She had really thought she could redeem Kylo? It was useless. He was too far gone. Everything she was doing was useless. She had thought she could replace Luke Skywalker and make a new Jedi Order but the truth was she had accomplished nothing so far.</p><p>It was time for action. It was time for her to swallow all her insecurities and end this. She would train her students, the ones who were old enough, and take on Kylo Ren and his Knights. There would be no mercy. No attempting to redeem him. She would drive her lightsaber through his black heart.</p><p><em>My lightsaber?</em> thought Rey. She took out the kyber crystal and lightsaber parts hidden in her robe. <em>I can do this.</em></p><p>Focusing on the crystal and parts with the Force, they began to levitate above her hand. The parts rotated around the crystal like an unusal orrery, one by one jolting away from their orbit and connecting to the crystal, slowly forming a lightsaber. Rey ignored anything she had read in the Ahch-To texts. They were another Jedi’s way of building a lightsaber, she had to find her own way. Using her instinct she connected and wired together the parts, doing what felt right instead of following any external logic.</p><p>Finally, she grasped the constructed lightsaber in her hand. It was a rusty colour, built using old and re-purposed parts. It was fitting. It looked just like something she would build from the parts she used to scavenge on Jakku. She pressed the ignition button and a luminous blade of brilliant blue burst out the hilt.</p><p><em>A weapon fit for a Jedi</em>, thought Rey. She extinguished the saber and Dashed back to camp. <em>It’s time to end this once and for all.</em></p><p>THE END OF PART ONE</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And that's 25% of the story done!</p><p>PART TWO - THE FIRST ORDER STRIKES BACK starts tomorrow!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Search for Kyber (1/2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>PART TWO - THE FIRST ORDER STRIKES BACK</strong>
</p><p>Rey meditated as the Millenium Falcon hurtled through hyperspace. It had been a few weeks since she had left the planet with Nim, the other students were to remain at there until they got back, guarded by Chewbacca. If they got back. </p><p>She had instructed Chewie to train them with a focus on combat. Before they could join the fight against the Resistance, her Jedi Order would have to be battle ready and no Jedi was complete without a lightsaber. However, they lacked the kyber crystal necessary to make them.</p><p>The source of kyber crystals had been hijacked by the First Order. The planet Ilum, where Jedi younglings would go to get their own kyber crystal, was cannibalised into a planet killing weapon that was Starkiller Base. When it was destroyed by the Resistance, the immense power it contained imploded on itself, destroying all the kyber crystal on the planet.</p><p>Rey had contacts in the black market of the Outer Rim she had acquired during her time travelling. They told of a secret trading space station where you could buy anything in the galaxy, be it legal or illegal. Kyber crystal had been declared an illegal material by the First Order, therefore if she could find it anywhere it had to be there. Rey suspected that Kylo needed kyber for his Knights of Ren as she had heard rumour that when they had come to save him they didn’t deflect the blaster fire.</p><p>Someone knocked on the door. ‘Come in,’ said Rey, disturbed from her meditation.</p><p>Nim poked his horned head out. ‘We’re nearly there, master.’</p><p>Rey stood up. ‘Okay, Nim.’ </p><p>He nodded and walked out. She walked over to the cockpit. Nim sat in the pilot seat, flicking switches and checking the hyperspace path.</p><p>They emerged out of the blue realm of hyperspace in a flash and entered the darkness of space. In the distance was Paleto Trading station. It was less of a station and more of a gigantic ship. The trading hub being mobile helped them evade law enforcement, never staying in one system too long. Nim drove them into the hanger bay after being given the all clear by the station. </p><p>They landed in a hanger that was full with ships of all different sizes. People milled about loading and unloading cargo off of them.<br/> Rey turned to Nim  ‘Listen up, I want you to stay with me at all times. Don’t touch anything and don’t look at anyone funny. We are going to slip in, get the crystals and leave. Is that clear?’ </p><p>‘What do we do if there’s trouble?’ he said.</p><p>‘There won’t be any trouble if you listen to me, but if things do get out of hand, I’ll handle it,’ said Rey sternly. ‘If somehow I can’t then you should remember your training. Follow me.’ She walked them over to near the exit and opened a long rectangular case. Inside was a vibroblade, a sharp sword-like weapon meant for close range combat. They couldn’t cut through anything like lightsabers but they were the next best thing.</p><p> She handed the weapon to Nim. ‘Keep them sheathed on your waist and hidden out of sight using your cloaks. I never want to see them out unless it’s absolutely necessary, understand?’ </p><p>The students looked at their new weapons in awe. She hit a control on the side of the wall and the Falcon exit opened up. They walked down the ramp and out of the busy hangar space and entered the bustle of the station proper. The marketplace was arranged in a grid pattern with streets in between the many stores and stalls. All sorts of people, from human to Gungan crowded the streets, pushing past each other on their business.</p><p>‘How are we going to find the kyber in all of this,’ said Nim, jumping back when Rey shushed him.</p><p>‘Don’t speak of that! We don’t know who could be listening,’ snapped Rey. He was was right to ask though. She didn’t have a clue where to look in all this chaos. </p><p>‘Crystal?’ said a large alien behind a stall full of odd parts. ‘Yes, we have crystal! Come, take a look.I have cheap price!’</p><p>Rey moved closer to the alien. ‘Kyber crystal?’ she asked, lowering her voice.</p><p>‘Yes yes we have Skybur crystals. Two for the price of one,’ it said, gesturing to a box of gems and jewels. Rey didn’t sense anything from them. </p><p><em>I’m wasting time</em>, she thought. ‘Nim, let’s— </p><p>He was gone.</p><p>She tapped the shoulder of an old woman perusing through the items. ‘Did you see where my Dathomiri friend went?’</p><p>‘He wandered off over there I think, maybe he went in the cantina’ said the woman, pointing to a shady looking building across from them.</p><p>Rey groaned in frustration. <em>Why can’t that boy ever listen? </em></p><p>She pushed her way through the dense crowd and entered the cantina. It was a dimly lit place. The pudgy bartender was clearing up broken items and flipped seats near the bar, muttering to himself. The patrons of the bar were also murmuring and turning back to their drinks. Rey saw Nim’s cloak lying on the floor. <br/>She picked it up and stormed to the bartender, who returned to his place behind the bar counter. ‘What happened to the boy wearing this?’ said Rey urgently. </p><p>The bartender’s red flushed face became a darker shade of red. ‘Listen lady, you don’t want no trouble. You should turn around and leave!’</p><p>Rey Pulled the bartender over the counter with the Force and grabbed him by the collar. ‘Maybe I do want trouble. Where is he?’ she yelled angrily. </p><p>The band stopped playing. Regret washed over her as she realised how quiet the cantina had become. She glanced around and saw that all eyes were on her. Using the Force might have blown her cover. She turned her gaze back to the trembling bartender.</p><p>‘R-r-round back,’ he stuttered. ‘H-he was asking about kyber and the boss heard. Next thing I know, the boss’s guards were fighting with your boy. They took him round back.’</p><p><em>The fool!</em> thought Rey as she paced around to the back door. She walked through the door, entering a large room full of crates and cargo. Nim stood in the middle of the room being held by both arms by two huge brutes. Rey ducked behind a pile of crates and peeked out. A short and fat man held Nim’s vibroblade, examining it. <em>Of course he’s got himself into trouble.</em></p><p>‘Want kyber crystal now do you?’ said the man.</p><p>‘I am nearly a Jedi Knight!’ said Nim, struggling against the grip of the two brutes.</p><p>The man laughed. ‘Oh and you’re using a vibroblade like some street thug? Some Jedi. You must be another one of those deluded fools who think they can take down the First Order. You really think if you build a lightsaber you can change anything?’ </p><p>He threw the blade over his shoulder and punched Nim square in the gut. Nim groaned in pain and his head sank. Rey instinctly moved foward but she managed to stop herself. </p><p><em>Nim got himself into this mess so he should be able to get himself out</em>, she thought. <em>If he couldn’t handle a few thugs how would he be able to fight againt the First Order?</em></p><p>‘You’re the fool,’ said Nim, painfully raising his head to look the man in the eye. ‘Luke Skywalker stood up against the old Empire and defeated the Emperor, armed with only a lightsaber. Then he walked out in front of the First Order, facing the Supreme Leader with only a lightsaber and saving the Resistance. You underestimate the power of a Jedi and his weapon.’</p><p>Rey smiled. He was definitely a believer. Unfortunately, belief wasn’t enough to get things done. By the looks of the irritated man, he was getting ready to deliver another punch. She rose to rush out from behind the boxes but she stopped again. Nim was doing something. Beads of sweat down his face and his right hand was tensing towards something. She felt him channeling the Force.</p><p>‘Well then,’ said the man. ‘I think the First Order will reward me quite handsomely if I give them a Jedi. I heard a— </p><p>A surge of Force came from Nim and the discarded vibroblade flew toward him, cutting one of the man’s legs off and flying into Nim’s hand. He twirled the blade into a reverse grip and plunged it into the brute holding his right arm. The brute collapsed and Nim pulled his hand free and slashed at the other. The shirt of the thug slowly darkened with blood as he tumbled backwards, falling into the crates where Rey was hiding. </p><p>Rey jumped out before she was crushed. Nim instinctively threw the vibroblade at the cloaked figure he saw jump out of the darkness but Rey put a hand out and grabbed it with the Force, sighing in relief when it stopped a few inches from her face.</p><p>Nim’s eyes widened. ‘Master Rey! I’m so sorry,’ he said, rushing over to her.</p><p>Rey smiled, flipping the blade down and moving it towards Nim, handle first. ‘Nicely done, Nim! we’ll make a Jedi out of you yet.’</p><p>Nim grabbed the handle and sheathed the blade. ‘I didn’t think I could do it but I did! I used the Force. Maybe I’m ready now, Master. All I need is the kyber and I can make my own lightsaber.’</p><p>Rey’s smile disappeared as she was reminded of the reason Nim got into this mess in the first place. ‘What were you thinking? Going off like that. Talking about kyber to anyone. What if they killed you?’</p><p>‘I apologise, Master. I just thought it would be better if we split up so we could find it quicker,’ he said. </p><p>Rey frowned. This station was huge and finding kyber would be like finding a screw in a sand dune. However, she still thought it wasn’t worth splitting up over. It was too dangerous.</p><p>The boss groaned on the floor. Despite one of his legs being detached from his body and losing a lot of blood, he was very much alive. He has to know something.</p><p>Rey walked over to him. ‘Why did you grab my friend for asking about kyber?’ she asked sternly. The man looked up at her through the pain. He saw Nim standing next to her and spat in her direction. Rey pulled out her saber and ignited it in a flash. The blue blade shot out and pointed at his neck. </p><p>‘I asked you a question,’ she said coldly.</p><p>The man squealed in terror. Nim looked at her, almost in shock. Rey thought she was going too far. It seemed like something Kylo would do. But then again, being a little scared was a much better method of extracting information than a painful and invasive Force Probe of his mind.</p><p>‘Please!’ the man pleaded. ‘Please don’t kill me. I’ll talk!’</p><p>‘I’m listening,’ said Rey.</p><p>‘I grabbed your friend because at first I thought he was a First Order spy who’d found me.’</p><p>‘Found you? Why would the First Order be after a common criminal like you?’</p><p>‘You see, I was part of the crew that retrieved kyber from the Starkiller Base wreckage. Someone said that the planet they made the weapon was Ilum, a planet full of the crystals. The First Order made kyber an illegal substance, which makes it valuable in the black market. If we could find any of the stuff intact, we could make a killing.</p><p>‘We were in the system for months. Searching for surviving chunks of the planet and mining them for kyber. Most of the chunks were all burnt out from the explosion but we got lucky and found some. We brought it back here a few weeks ago, hiding it here until we find a buyer.’</p><p>‘So the kyber is on the station,’ said Nim.</p><p>Rey still pointed her saber at the man.</p><p>‘I told you what you wanted!’ said the man. ‘Let me go!’</p><p>‘No,’ said Rey.</p><p>‘Master? What are you doing?’ said Nim.</p><p>‘Trust me,’ she said. She swung her saber at the man.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Search for Kyber (2/2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rey and Nim had followed the hobbling man out of the back of the cantina. The patrons had all murmered when they saw the owner of the cantina walk in on two legs and walk out with one leg, leaning on a crutch quickly made from junk in the store room. Rey had swung her lightsaber at his bleeding stump, instantly cauterising the wound and stopping the bleeding. He didn’t show much appreciation for Rey saving his life.</p><p>He had told them his name was Warrin. They followed his lead through the maze that was the Paleto station market. It was eerily quite this time. People kept they’re heads down and stayed to themselves, hurrying about as if trying to finish their business as quickly as possible. Warrin even looked around as if something was strange. Rey dismissed it as nothing and pushed Warrin on towards his hideout. </p><p>After a while of more walking, Warrin took a turn into a dark alleyway between two buildings. The alleyway went on for a distance and then stopped at a corner turning left. Warrin stopped before the corner and turned to face them.</p><p>‘The hideout is just ahead,’ he said. ‘Listen, Master Jedi. Let me do all the talking, I’ll convince him to give you a good price.’ said Warrin.</p><p>‘But we don’t have any money, Master,’ whispered Nim in Rey’s ear. Warrin’s face dropped. He must have had good hearing.</p><p>Rey smiled at Nim. ‘I’m sure we can work something out,’ she said. ‘Lead on.’</p><p>Warrin hesitated. Rey put a hand on her hip, pulling back her cloak as she did so and revealing the hilt of her lightsaber. </p><p>‘Yes, yes. Of course,’ Warrin said immediately, almost running around the corner towards the hideout.</p><p>They followed him round the corner, seeing him standing in front of a door in shock at the end of the alleyway. The door of the hideout had a gaping hole in it, the metal bent inwards as if damaged from an explosive. The edges of the hole still smoked from the heat of the breach. </p><p>She walked up to the door and peered inside, seeing the aftermath of a grisly firefight. Bodies lay on the floor of a hallway, smoking from with blaster wounds.<br/>‘The crew probably tried to defend the door,’ said Rey, analysing the scene. ‘But when it was breached they were outgunned completely. Who could have done this?’</p><p>‘A gang war, maybe?’ said Nim. ‘Some other crew found about the kyber and attacked the hideout.</p><p>‘No, said Warrin, shaking his head. ‘Our crew was made up of members from all the different gangs of Paleto station. We didn’t have any enemies here. Everyone here would gain from us selling the kyber. We were pretty well liked across the station.’ His expression saddened. ‘Well, were pretty well liked. Besides, no one on the station has this kind of firepower.'</p><p>Rey heard voices coming from withing the hideout. ‘They’re still here. Warrin, you stay here. We’ll handle this.’</p><p>She climbed through the hole in the door and walked through the hall, stepping over the bodies that covered the floor. Nim followed.</p><p>‘If they start firing, I want you to stay behind me,’ she whispered. ‘Your vibroblade won’t be able to deflect their blaster fire.’</p><p>‘Yes, Master,’ replied Nim nervously.</p><p>They arrived at a door to the main room of the hideout. Taking a deep breath, she pressed the control. The door slid open and Rey’s eyes widened in terror. A hooded figure wrapped in black stood with his back towards her, flanked by two similarly clothed figures. </p><p><em>How could he be here?</em> she thought. <em>How did he find us? </em></p><p>She pulled out her lightsaber and activated it, illuminating the dark room with a blue glow. The hooded figure turned around and the masked face of Kylo Ren looked back at her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Escape (1/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘Rey, what a pleasant surprise,’ said Kylo Ren. Rey was taken aback by his voice. He sounded different. Rey knew what Kylo sounded like, both with and without the alteration from the helmet. This man didn’t sound like Kylo. He spoke with a more regal tone. She looked closer at his helmet. It had a similar design with the same silver border around the eyeslit, except the silver was only one ring thick unlike the multiple of Kylo’s helmet. He wasn’t Kylo Ren.</p><p>‘Who are you?’ demanded Rey, holding her lightsaber in front of her in guard position.</p><p>‘Oh, how rude of me! I know all bout you yet you know nothing about me!’ he said, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. Definitely not Kylo. He took his helmet off, revealing a blond-haired youth who looked a few years younger than her. </p><p>‘Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ken Typho, son of Illian Typho. Heir to the Throne of Naboo and the Supreme Leader’s most trusted Knight of the Ren,’ he said pompously, giving Rey a bow. ‘Master will be very pleased when he finds out that we not only managed to retrieve the last of the kyber crystals, but we also brought him the last Jedi!’</p><p>Rey was about to reply but Nim barged to her side. ‘I won’t let you take her!’ he yelled.</p><p>Ken looked at the two Knights flanking him and pointed to Nim. ‘Look Talia! Talon! It’s a Dathomiri!’</p><p>Rey looked at the enemy Knights. Three would be difficult to handle. The one called Talia was slender and of a similar build to her. She looked agile and quick. The one called Talon was the exact opposite. His hulking figure towered over the rest of them. Talon growled in response to Ken’s comment and Talia remained silent, staring at Nim. </p><p>Rey readied her lightsaber in front of her. Ken and Talia had vibroblades sheathed on their waists and Talon held a double bladed vibrospear. She could easily slash through them with her saber, however she didn’t know how strong they were with the Force.</p><p>Ken seemed annoyed at their lack of response. ‘I suppose it would be appropriate if you two handle the brat. Now, Rey, if you would come along— <br/>‘No one will be handling him,’ interrupted Rey. ‘We’re not going anywhere with you.’</p><p>Ken’s welcoming face and posture faded, replaced by a sense of arrogance. ‘To tell the truth I expected the legendary last Jedi to be more… intimidating,’ he sneered. ‘Yet here she is before me, a scrawny little girl dressed in a beggar’s rags.’</p><p>Rey didn’t have time for this. She flared a weak wave of Force energy towards them to probe their power. The two Dathomiri Knights had high levels of dark side energy flowing within them, whilst their leader Ken was a lot weaker. He buckled under Rey’s gentle probe.</p><p>‘Where are my manners!’ said Ken as he got to his feet. ‘I offer my sincerest apologies. I got a bit carried away there and forgot who I was talking to. Jedi Master Rey, if you would kindly deactivate your lightsaber and accompany us to our ship, the luxurious Darkwing. Once aboard, every effort will be made to assure your comfort. You can even bring your brat— apprentice, I mean.’</p><p>Rey noticed a glowing behind the man. She probed with the Force and felt the power of the kyber crystals. Reaching out with the Force, she grabbed the box and Pulled it towards herself. It lurched towards her, hitting Ken in the head and knocking his helmet off and throwing him back onto the floor.</p><p>She grabbed it and threw it to Nim. ‘Run back to the ship! I’ll be right behind you,’ she ordered.</p><p>Rey could see the hesitance in his eyes. ‘No! I can’t leave you!’ he cried.</p><p>‘Go! Trust me!’ she yelled back.</p><p>Nim hesitated for a moment, but then turned on his heels and ran.</p><p>‘Talia! After the crystals!’ screamed Ken on the floor, his face red with anger. Talia charged forward but Rey lunged forward with her saber. The Knight jumped back, only narrowly avoiding the blade.</p><p>‘Talon, rush her!’ said Talia.</p><p>The male Dathomiri used the Force to Dash towards her at inhuman speed with his vibroblade staff pointed at her, hoping to impale her before she could even swing her saber. Rey Pushed at him, stopping him a short distance in front of her. He was powerful, flaring his dark side energy and pushing back at Rey, slowly stepping towards her.</p><p>Talia used the opportunity to rush past her and chase after Nim. There was no way Nim could beat a trained Knight of Ren as powerful as her. She had to take care of Talon and stop her. Rey was about to swing her lightsaber at hulking Knight in front of her but she heard the sound of a blaster firing. She narrowly deflected the incoming bolt away. Ken was on his feet, aiming a blaster at her. </p><p>He fired repeatedly and she deflected the shots every time. Between Pushing against Talon and deflecting Ken’s shots she was powerless to stop Talia going after Nim. She had to deal with these two quickly, or her apprentice would be killed. She deflected another shot, and kept on Pushing, desperately trying to figure a way out of her situation.</p>
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<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Escape (2/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nim ran through the bustling streets, with Talia hot on his tail. He clutched the box of crystals close to his chest as he ran, using a trickle of the Force to nudge people out of his way. He ran in the general direction they had come from, he had to get to the hanger at some point. </p><p><em>What am I going to do when I get there?</em> he thought. <em>It’s not like she is just going to let me board and start the engines</em>.</p><p>He looked back whilst running and saw crates flying towards him at an alarming speed. He ducked and the crates zipped over his head, colliding with a group of people shopping at a stall. He looked back again and saw Talia running after him, lifting random objects with the Force as she ran and flinging them at Nim. He bobbed and weaved his way through the crowd, dodging the projectiles, sometimes using people as cover. </p><p>It made him feel bad. Innocent people were getting hurt. However, the consequences of him giving up the kyber crystals would be far more severe. He dreaded to think about it. An army of dark side Force users like Talia, each equipped with the destructive power of a lightsaber. The First Order would become unstoppable.</p><p>He couldn’t dodge forever. He focused and attuned himself to the Force, as he did before when summoning the vibroblade whilst being captured. He turned and used the Force to grab hold of a crate flying towards him. He spun around, using the momentum of the crate along with his own Force power to slingshot the crate back at Talia at an extreme speed. She didn’t have time to dodge. It hit her square in the chest, sending her flying back and knocking her helmet off. Nim silently cheered. She had been taken care of. Now to start the ship.</p><p>He reached the hanger and noticed a sleek black ship in the middle. A crowd of shipmates and pilots were examining it in awe at its design and advanced technology. That had to be the Knight’s ship, the <em>Darkwing</em>. He ignored it and rushed over to where the Falcon was hidden in the corner of the hanger, sighing in relief when he saw it. It was intact. The Knights hadn’t noticed it.</p><p>Slender but powerful arms tackled him to the floor. The box fell out of his hands and the crystals sprawled across the floor. He turned to see Talia standing over him, panting in exhaustion. Her skin was a pale white and her head was shaved bald. Nim would have thought she was pretty if her face wasn’t contorted in anger.</p><p>She pulled out two vibroblade short swords and held them close to his neck. ‘It’s over,’ she said in a raspy voice.</p><p>Nim grew angry. ‘Why are you with them?’<br/>‘With who?’ she replied, thrown off by the anger behind his question.</p><p>‘The First Order? They’re just a resurrected form of the old Empire. Do you not remember what the Empire did to our people?’ said Nim.</p><p>Talia returned his anger with her own. ‘The First Order saved me and my brother! The Jedi killed our people. The First Order took us in and gave us purpose. We fight against the Resistance who ally themselves with Jedi!’</p><p>‘No. They brainwashed you. The Emperor ordered the death of our people. He feared the power of the Nightsisters and had us all killed!’</p><p>‘Lies! Jedi Lies!’ she screamed, lifted her blades black to charge a swing that would cleave his head off. Nim quickly swept her legs and she fell to the floor. He immediately jumped on her, going to her throat. Muscle memory from years spent in the fighting pits kicked in.</p><p>His hands touched the bare skin of her throat and the Force surged like electric. Foreign images appeared in his mind at lightening speed. He saw Talia’s memories through her eyes. Standing in front of the Supreme Council. Being trained in the academy along with other stormtroopers. Being subjected to harsh “re-education” classes. Joining Kylo Ren and letting his darkness envelop her.</p><p>At the same time, he felt Talia in his mind, running through his memories. The stories his father told him about Dathomir and its fate. His brutal life in the arenas where he had to kill to survive. Rey saving him, her light pulling him out of a life of darkness. The surge ended and he was back inside his own mind, his hands wrapped around Talia’s throat, squeezing. He let go of her, rushing backwards. She lay there, her face confused and scared.</p><p>Nim shook himself and focused on the crystals. He scrambled at them, getting as many as he could back into the box. Leaving Talia on the floor, he boarded the Falcon and sat down in the cockpit, flicking numerous switches to start the engines. The Falcon ascended, hovering above all the other ships in the hanger. Slowly, Nim flew over to where the market started, looking out the window of the cockpit for Rey.</p><p>He saw the blue flash of a lightsaber zooming amongst the crowd.</p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Escape (3/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rey Dashed through the crowd, at the same time using the Force to clear a path through the crowd of people. She held her activated lightsaber in her hand as she ran, hoping it would be encourage people to move out of her way quicker. She also used it as a beacon for Nim.</p><p> Rey peered over her shoulder to see a furious Talon Dashing after her. He held the two pieces of his severed vibrospear in his hands as two swords. Despite the long slash running down the front of his armor, burning his skin, he continued to storm after her. It wouldn’t be long until he caught up to her, the speed of his Dash being increased by his sheer rage.</p><p>She heard a distant voice calling her name She turned back see the Millenium Falcon hovering above the hanger. The ramp was open and Nim stood there, waving his arms at her. Rey’s face lit up. She was proud of Nim. Her student was progressing well if he managed to take care of Talia. Rey shook herself and realised her situation. There was no time to be proud. She had to figure out how to get aboard the Falcon and escape.</p><p>Talon was getting closer. He neared her and slashed out with one of his spear tips. Rey edged herself forward, squeezing more Force into her legs but she couldn’t stop the blade tearing through her the fabric of her robe and leaving a shallow cut in her back. Rey winced in pain but kept running. The next slash she might not be so lucky.</p><p>The Falcon neared. Nim couldn’t land as there was no space below. Even if he landed, they wouldn’t be able to lift off in time to avoid Talon. She only had one choice. She had to jump.</p><p>She deactivated her lightsaber and channeled all the Force energy she could into her legs, pushing against the floor and launching herself upwards.</p><p>She shot towards the Falcon, Pushing downwards to prolong her time in the air. She was close to the ramp of the Falcon. So close. But she began to dip before reaching it. She desperately stretched out a hand to grab the edge of the ramp but her hand slipped. She fell to the market below.</p><p> Her body lurched as she suddenly stopped, floating in mid air. She looked above to see Nim stretching her hand out at her. He Pulled her towards him and grabbed her hand, lifting her up. She threw her lightsaber on board and climbed up onto the ramp.</p><p>Rey didn’t even have time to catch her breath. Talon jumped up and landed on her, pinning her to the ground. She fumbled around for her lightsaber but she couldn’t find it. It was over. He gripped her throat with a huge hand and raised his vibrospear tip in the other, bringing it down to plunge it into her head. </p><p>The hall shined bright with blue as Nim ignited her lightsaber and swung it at Talon, lopping his spear hand off. Talon roared, letting go of Rey’s throat and clutching his damaged arm. Rey gathered all her remaining energy and used it in a powerful Force Push directed at Talon. The Falcon buckled from the ferocity of the Push as the Knight was sent back flying out of Falcon.</p><p>‘Nim! Get us out of here!’ said Rey. Nim deactivated the saber and ran towards the cockpit. Rey hit the ramp controls, lifting it closed. Before it closed she saw Talia, lifting up an unconscious Talon with the Force and heading towards a sleek black ship. </p><p><em>That has to be the Darkwing!</em> Rey realised. <em>They’ll just follow us!</em></p><p>Rey ran to the underside blaster turret of the Falcon and sat in the seat, using the handles to swing the barrel around and aim at the Knight’s ship. She pulled the triggers and violent blasts of red struck the unshielded ship’s hull, piercing the metal and igniting the fuel cells. It exploded. She watched the fireball blossom across the hangar as the Falcon zoomed away, exiting Paleto station and entering space.</p><p>Joining Nim in the cockpit, she began punching in hyperspace coordinates. </p><p>‘Where are we going?’ said Nim. </p><p>‘To the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss. If Leia dies, the Resistance dies. We need to save her.’<br/>‘How are we going to do that? Even if we have kyber we’re just two Jedi.’</p><p>Rey flicked open the lid of the box and looked at the numerous kyber crystals inside. She thought back to when she first wielded a lightsaber, beating Kylo Ren with no training with the weapon at all. It wasn’t training that allowed her to win, it was the Force. Complete trust in the Force had granted her the power to beat Kylo. Her students weren’t very well trained in lightsaber combat, but they did have potential with the Force. Maybe all she had to do was… trust in them.</p><p>‘Who says there’s just two of us?’ said Rey as she pushed a control on the Falcon’s console. The ship punched a hole into hyperspace and disappeared. </p>
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<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Counter-Attack (1/2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo stood in the medical bay of  First Order’s capital ship, the Chimaera. He watched as Lana floated in the bacta tank, hung up by the waist and chest by a harness. Burns covered her whole body. They were not as severe as Kylo’s but they were still serious.The medical droid had said that it would take weeks of treatment to fully heal. He couldn’t imagine forcing her out of the tank and into an uncomfortable suit like him so she would remain in there until fully healed.</p><p>Kylo recalled floating in a similar tank as the healing fluids rejuvenating his body. All he had felt was hatred. Hatred for the Resistance, who had sent his empire into disarray. Hatred for the incompetent Supreme Council, who had been outwitted so easily. Hatred for everything really. He tensed his muscles against the material of the uncomfortable black suit he was in. </p><p>‘How is the new suit, master.’ said Talia nervously, hoping to break the uncomfortable silence. <br/>Strange, thought Kylo. Talia is never nervous. Talon stood beside her, dressed in new armor and repeatedly flexing a gloved hand. Kylo heard a quiet mechanical whirring every time he did so. <br/>What exactly had happened while he was unconscious? </p><p> Kylo clenched his fist, the leather glove of the suit tightening around his fist. ‘Fine,’ said Kylo with a neutral helmet-altered voice. The suit was restrictive and suffocating, but necessary. He wore a new helmet which had the same design as the old one but it was different this time. If he took it off he would die. </p><p>The respirator emitted a loud breathing sound as Kylo breathed in and out. During the explosion of the building, he had inhaled a lot of smoke, damaging his lungs. His use of the Force to protect himself and Lana had strained him further, causing muscle tears and bodily damage. His new suit had a healing system along with mechanical muscle aids to help him move. </p><p>‘Where is Ken?’ said Kylo.</p><p>‘He is dead, Master,’ answered Talia, lowering her head.</p><p>Kylo jerked his gaze towards her. ‘How?’ </p><p>‘Intel discovered a criminal gang had retrieve kyber crystal from the wreckage of Ilum. The gang was hiding on Paleto trading station. Knowing that having the crystals would greatly increase our power, we went on a mission to to retrieve them. We eliminated the gang quite easily, however we also encountered the last Jedi and her apprentice. She killed Ken and escaped with the crystals, Master.’</p><p>Kylo turned to Talon. ‘Did she sever your tongue as well as your hand, Talon? Speak. How did she kill him and best you.’</p><p>‘Ken shot blaster fire at her, Master. She deflected them and one bolt hit him in the head. I tried charging at her but as soon as Ken died she slashed me with her lightsaber and ran. I tried to catch her— I even managed to get aboard her ship, but I was outmatched. Her apprentice cut off my hand and she threw me off the ship.’ said Talon.</p><p>Ken had a tendency to fool around, especially when dealing with those he considered beneath him, but he was still one of Kylo’s most effective Knights. He could send the boy to an unruly planet in the Outer Rim and he would remove any sparks of rebellion quickly, leaving the planet entirely under the thumb of the First Order. The other Knights only caused more destruction and chaos. He felt anger at losing such a vital individual. </p><p>His mind went to Lana. When she recovered she would learn that she had lost her brother. He would have been Kylo’s brother too after the wedding.</p><p>‘What were you doing whilst this was happening, Talia?’ Kylo asked furiously.</p><p>‘She had an apprentice who initally ran off with the crystals. I ran after him,’ said Talia. Kylo could sense the hesitance within them, the shame of defeat, but there was also something else. Something that was raging inside Talia and starting to grow within Talon. He couldn’t quite figure out what it was.</p><p>Bested by an apprentice, thought Kylo. The Jedi aren’t dead. They’re alive and getting stronger by the day. Kylo shrugged the thoughts off. He couldn’t dwell on negativity. He had to move forward.</p><p>‘Did you get them back?’ said Kylo.</p><p>Talia looked at Talon, who looked at her back. She pulled four small crystals out of a pouch on her belt. Kylo’s anger faded once he saw them. They had enough for them to make their own lightsabers.</p><p> ‘Good,’ he said. ‘You suffered defeat but there was also a small victory. With these crystals you can complete your training and become more powerful. Let us hope that they are enough to defeat the Jedi.’</p><p>‘Yes, Master,’ they said in unison.</p><p>Kylo suddenly felt a surge of pain course through his body. He nearly buckled over from the pain but the suit kept him standing. He wasn’t fully healed. This pain would be a regular occurrence.</p><p> ‘Who ordered me out of the bacta tank so soon?’ asked Kylo. He wouldn’t have preferred to stay in. He wanted to be back in action as soon as possible to save his Empire. It was just that all this was highly against procedure. A person with his injuries would have been kept in the tank for a lot longer than the time he had spent in it.</p><p>‘We did, Master.’ said Talia. ‘There has been numerous failures to the tank during the time you were in it. Life supports systems malfunctioned. Wires broke. Pipes burst. One time the glass of the tank even shattered. We kept changing the medical droid but things continued to go wrong, so we chose to take you out.’</p><p>Failures. The word amused Kylo. Someone was obviously trying to kill him. It made sense. A vulnerable Supreme Leader provided an opportunity for those in the First Order who aspired to take his place. However, his mind wandered elsewhere. To the Coruscant rebellion.<br/>How did the Resistance manage to execute such an assault without the First Order finding out?How did they manage to infiltrate the Intelligence headquarters and free all the prisoners? There had to be someone inside the First Order who was secretly a Resistance agent. There was no other explanation. Someone had obviously helped them from the inside, covering their tracks. Now that the Resistance had failed to kill him, the agent was trying to kill him himself.</p><p>The agent had to be a member of the Supreme Council. No one else would have the authority to pull off the things they did. They were on the Chimaera right now. </p><p>‘Call the Supreme Council,’ said Kylo. It was time to find out who the Resistance agent was.</p>
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<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Counter-Attack (2/2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo sat at the head of a table. On every seat was sat a nervous Council member. Despite all the losses and injuries, they had all survived, unharmed. </p><p>‘Someone tell me of our status,’ said Kylo.</p><p>General Hux cleared his throat. ‘The Resistance have fully taken Coruscant, your Excellency. There was planet-wide rebellion against our facilties. All other planets in the Core Systems have allied with the Resistance. We are in full retreat. Our main fleet is currently at a standstill in an unoccupied system in the Outer Rim ’</p><p>‘I have ordered all our fleets across the galaxy to return to us,’ said Grand Admiral Sloane. ‘We’ve lost contact with some of them. We suspect that they have also suffered attacks from the Resistance. Once we unite with the surviving fleets, orders have been given to return to the Coruscant and begin a planet-wide orbital bombardment in order to retake the planet.’</p><p>‘By who?’ said Kylo.</p><p>‘By me,’ said Allegiant General Pryde. ‘I took command whilst you were…incapacitated.’</p><p>‘An idiotic command,’ said Kylo. ‘Such destruction would only breed more Resistance soldiers. General Organa would use the deaths to fuel her propaganda. Their allies would double, if not triple. Also, if the Core Systems planets see us destroy one of their own, they would join the Resistance. If we went ahead with your idea, it would lead to the end of the First Order!’</p><p>Pryde shook with rage but ended up suppressing it and speaking calmly. ‘Insurrection must be met with repercussions, Supreme Leader.’  </p><p>Kylo wanted to kill him but he knew he couldn’t. The First Order was in a bad place and eliminating one of his best leaders would only disadvantage him further.</p><p>‘Correct,’ said Kylo. ‘The Resistance will pay, Allegiant General. But we musn’t strike out blindly. We must take them out at the root.’</p><p>‘The root?’ said Sloane. ‘Supreme Leader, we don’t know the location of their base. General Organa has evaded us ever since the Battle of Crait.’</p><p>It was true he didn’t know the location of the Resistance base. But that was before he had attacked Poe with the Force at the wreckage of the Quarters buildings. He had not just attacked his body, he had also attacked his mind. He would eventually share the vital information with the Supreme Council, but there was something else he had to take care of before he could.</p><p>‘There is a Resistance agent in the Supreme Council,’ said Kylo.</p><p>The room was deadly quiet. Kylo could almost hear the whirring of the ship’s engines</p><p>‘We were all in danger during the Resistance attack,’ said Sloane. ‘Any one of us could have been killed. Who could possibly be so dedicated to Resistance ideals that they would be willing to give their life? Respectfully, Supreme Leader, I think the idea is preposterous. A Supreme Council member would never work for them.’</p><p>‘Not necessarily working for them, Sloane. They hate me more than they hate the Resistance, probably deeming my downfall to be worth going against their ideals. I presume a deal was made. If the assassination attempt on me was successful, the agent would take my place.’</p><p>‘Who could it possibly be?’ said Pryde. It was amusing that Pryde was the one to ask that question. Kylo had a good idea who it was.</p><p>‘Two Council members went to intercept Dameron’s Resistance ship,’ said Kylo. ‘General Hux and Allegiant General Pryde.’</p><p>Kylo could feel the rooms anxiety. He looked at the two men he had accused. Pryde stared coldly at him whilst Hux squirmed nervously. He could probe their minds and excise the truth by brute force, but he couldn’t do that in front of the whole council, especially not to someone as respected as Pryde. He would have to find the truth another way.</p><p>‘Are you accusing me of treason, Supreme Leader?’ said Pryde. He examined the old man and his cold eyes. Kylo knew Pryde hated him. He disliked being inferior to someone younger than him. Kylo didn’t have any war experience. He didn’t have years of political reputation or even most of the same ideals. </p><p>The only reason Pryde hadn’t started a mutiny was because he was a pragmatic and logical man. He knew they needed Kylo. Without him they wouldn’t have escaped from Coruscant. A powerful Force wielder was vital to the First Order. Pryde wouldn’t try to kill Kylo, even if it would automatically grant him rank of Supreme Leader.</p><p>‘I am just stating facts, Allegiant General,’ said Kylo. ‘You are the only two who could have allowed Dameron’s accomplices to infiltrate the Intelligence headquarters without anyone knowing, therefore I assume one of you must be the Resistance agent.’</p><p>‘This is outrageous!’ said Hux. The other members shifted uneasily in their chairs. No one spoke to the Supreme Leader like that. Hux had just spoke to him as if he wasn’t his superior. He had spoken to him as if they were back on Starkiller Base vying for the favor of Snoke.</p><p>Hux realised this and tried to be more calm. ‘This situation is outrageous, Supreme Leader,’ he said. ‘The Resistance scum are like an infection, they must have found some other way to sneak in.’ </p><p>Kylo doubted his innocence. Ever since Kylo had joined the First Order he had butted heads with the man. He knew Hux wanted to be Supreme Leader. When he was unconscious in the power vacuum after Snoke’s death, Kylo had felt a hostile intent before he woke, lifting his head to see Hux standing there. He had nearly attempted to kill him then and he was probably trying to kill him now. A year of having his authority superseded by Kylo and Pryde had pushed him to the limit. It had to be Hux. Now Kylo just had to prove it to the rest of the Supreme Council.</p><p>‘You know what I find truly outrageous, Hux,’ said Kylo. ‘The truth behind your existence.'</p><p>Hux looked confused. ‘Excuse me?’</p><p>‘Son of the failed Brendol Hux. He lowered himself to laying with a kitchen wench, and from that sickly union, you were spawned.’ Hux’s face flushed red. Kylo could feel the anger starting to bubble inside him. It was working.</p><p>He continued. ‘All this time trying to pathetically cling to power. You could never compare to me and my Skywalker bloodline. I’m born from men who have ruled galaxies and tore down empires. You were born from a washed up general and some invalid from a grimy kitchen on Yavin.’</p><p>Hux was trying to maintain a cool face but Kylo could sense the anger ready to explode. Now for the final spark.</p><p>‘How about this, Hux,’ said Kylo. ‘I could use my powers as Supreme Leader to revoke the title of General from you. You can swap places with the canteen cook. Would you like that? You can be just like your whore mother.’</p><p>Hux stood up and pulled a blaster pistol from his waist holster. Kylo already had his lightsaber in his hand and ignited. He swung his lightsaber at Hux before he could pull the trigger and Hux’s head fell off his shoulders, dropped onto the table with a dry thud. The headless body stood there eerily for a while before tilting back over and collapsing to the floor. </p><p>The council sat there wide-eyed in silent terror before Pryde spoke up. ‘Everyone witnessed Hux’s attempt to draw his blaster and kill the Supreme Leader. Even if he had not committed the treason of aiding the Resistance, he committed a severe act of treason before our very eyes.’ </p><p>Sloane spoke up, not looking away from Hux’s lifeless eyes staring at her. ‘Yes. We all know the penalty for treason is execution.’</p><p>‘Good,’ said Kylo, signalling to Talia and Talon who stood by the door as guards. Talon picked up Hux’s body and put it over his shoulder, carrying it away from the room. Talia followed with his head. Kylo could feel the council becoming less uneasy, however only slightly.</p><p>‘Now that has been taken care of, time to take care of the matter at hand. I know the location of General Leia.’</p><p>Pryde’s eyes lit up. The first time he had ever seen them do that. ‘How? We have been trying to find her for a whole year to no avail.’</p><p>‘I probed the mind of Dameron,’ said Kylo. The unease increased at the mention of Kylo’s sinister Force powers to read minds. ‘She hides in the Outer Rim, on the jungle planet of Ajan Kloss.’</p><p>‘We should gather the fleets immediately and attack,’ said Sloane. The other admirals voiced their agreement.</p><p>‘No. We don’t know the status of our other ships. Also, who knows how far the Resistance infiltration has gone. We go in with what we have now,’ said Kylo.</p><p>‘I agree. Jump in and orbitally bombard the planet into dust,’ said Pryde. ‘She’s on a remote Outer Rim jungle planet. No one will care.’</p><p>‘Order the fleet to jump to the Ajan Kloss system. I want no one to attack without my order,’ said Kylo. It was time to end this for good. It was time for the First Order to strike back.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Dark Against Light (1/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo stood on the bridge of the Chimaera with Pryde and Sloan as the blue streaks of hyperspace vanished from the panoramic viewport, replaced by the vast darkness of space. Amongst the emptiness, there was a small green ball of light. As the ship came closer, he could soon make out the lush green jungle planet of Ajan Kloss.</p><p>The hyperspace jump of the Coruscant fleet had been quick and thorough. All personnel, from stormtroopers to high ranking officers, had been throughly background checked to ensure there were no other Resistance agents in the First Order. Once that had been done, everyone in the fleet was briefed about the assault on Ajan Kloss.</p><p>‘Incoming transmission from the planet, your Excellency,’ said an officer at a console.</p><p>‘Holo it to me and continue the scan, I want to know everything about their defensive and offensive capabilities.’</p><p>‘Yes, Supreme Leader,’ said the officer, pressing buttons on his console. The holocomm in front of him activated and a blue hologram of General Organa displayed in front of him. She was on the planet. Rage overcame Kylo. He didn’t see his mother, he saw the person responsible for hurting Lana.<br/>‘Activate the turbolasers! Fire everything we’ve got on the planet!’ ordered Kylo.</p><p>‘It would be useless,’ said Sloane, standing beside him. ‘The entire base is protected by a deflector shield.’</p><p>‘Fire I said!’ said Kylo.</p><p>Sloane begrudgingly gave the order, officers clicked buttons on consoles and Kylo saw waves of red blasts from every ship fire towards the planet. Explosions rocked the jungle covering the planet, burning away the green into a burned brown and black. However, one area wasn’t affected. The blasts hit a shield and were dispersed across its area, sending a flickering effect across its surface and outlining the area it protected.</p><p>They had found the rebel base. It was in shielded dome at the equator of the planet. </p><p>The hologram of Leia stood there, looking determined. ‘Found us have you, Ben. No… not Ben. Not anymore.  There’s nothing of him left in you now. Only Kylo Ren remains.’</p><p>‘You’ll pay for what you did to my empire,’ said Kylo, shaking with fury.</p><p>‘What I did? You mean give people freedom from your tyranny?’ said Organa.</p><p>‘I was restoring order to the galaxy!’ he yelled. The officers of the bridge shifted uncomfortably. He had to remain calm and focused. He took several loud respirator-filtered breaths before continuing. ‘The restoration of order begins anew with your death, General Organa. With the heart of the Resistance gone, your forces will scatter and perish.’</p><p>‘Is that what you think the Resistance is? Something that can be killed with the death of just one person. You’re so wrong.’</p><p>‘We’ll see what you say when I come down there myself and slaughter every last one of you. There’s no escape. Our fleet is ready to shoot down any ship that tries.’</p><p>‘I’m waiting,’ she said. The pain in her voice was clear. He watched as the hologram of Organa turned and the transmission cut.</p><p>‘Supreme Leader,’ said Pryde. ‘This situation reminds me of my time as an officer in the Empire.’</p><p>‘I have no time for your stories, Pryde’ said Kylo curtly.</p><p>‘You will want to hear this one,’ said Pryde in an irritated tone. ‘Have you ever heard of the Battle of Hoth?’</p><p>‘Yes, I have,’ replied Kylo. His father had told him about the time the old Empire found the Rebel base on Hoth and how narrowly they escaped the grip of Darth Vader. Kylo never asked for the details of the attack, he was far more interested in what Vader was like. ‘The bridge contains many younger officers who are not as experienced as you, Allegiant General. Tell them of how this situation is similar.’</p><p>Pryde cleared his throat and addressed the whole bridge. ‘The old Empire hovered their fleets over the Rebel base. Just as we do today. The Rebel base on Hoth was shielded similarly. We were ordered to deploy a ground invasion on the base and destroy the shield generator. However, the Rebels had ion cannons which neutralised our ships, allowing them a path to escape whilst our forces were split.’</p><p>‘What plan of action do you recommend, General?’ said Kylo.</p><p>‘The reason the Hoth battle failed last time was because of the ion cannons. My plan consists of two steps. First we find out if they have any ion cannons, if so, we destroy them quickly. Now that the Rebels are grounded, we deploy a ground invasion to destroy the shield generator. The Rebels would presumably retreat to the main base. That’s when we pull out, leaving the unshielded base open for a thorough orbital bombardment.’</p><p>An officer at a console spoke up. ‘Scans show that there are only two planetary defense systems on the ground sir. They have low levels of fortification.’<br/>‘Good. Send bombing squads to destroy them,’ said Kylo. Officers scrambled to comms to deliver his orders to the pilots in the hanger. Kylo realised that they would win. There was no escaping this time. Why end it so quickly with a bombardment? ‘I want the ground invasion to target the base itself instead of the shield generator. I want to personally kill General Organa.’</p><p>Pryde eyes widened in shock. ‘That would push our resources to the limits, Supreme Leader. We already have low numbers of infantry due to leaving most of them on Coruscant. Our victory would not be guaranteed. Wanting to go in yourself is unwise. Better to destroy the easier target of the shield generator and then completely annihilate the base, ensuring her death.’</p><p>‘You targeted the generator at Hoth and you failed, General. You spread yourself too thin and lost too much. This time we go straight for them. Send everything we’ve got. They’re still using junk from back in the old Rebel-Empire war. We have improved technology, the AT-ATs are more advanced and don’t have stupid weaknesses like falling over when they’re legs are tied by Snowspeeder cables.’</p><p>Pryde reluctantly nodded. Kylo had outsmarted him in strategy for the first time. ‘As you wish, Supreme Leader,’ he said, turning to face the bridge. ‘Prep the stormtroopers and AT-ATs for a ground invasion on the Rebel base.’</p><p>Kylo looked on as the bridge buzzed with activity. It was time. He would kill his mother with his own hand, like he did with his father, and finally complete his descent into the dark side.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Dark Against Light (2/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo cut down the last Resistance fighter guarding the entrance to caverns below the destroyed Rebel base. The might of the First Order had ravaged through the feeble defenses of the base with ease. Kylo led the charge, cutting his way through Resistance inside the base, accompanied by his two Knights of Ren with their newly made lightsabers. The three of them were unstoppable. They could deflect any blaster bolt and cut down any armor. With each swing of their blades they inspired terror in their enemies. This was the future he envisioned. The galaxy would submit to his power and through its submission he would bring order.</p><p>He lifted his fizzling blade to illuminate the entrance of the caverns. Apparently the base had been built on a system of tunnels and caves. Kylo froze when he realised the base on Crait was similar. He recalled the events of the battle. Whilst he was busy fighting an apparition of his old master, Leia and other key members of the Resistance had escaped through a tunnel system. He wouldn’t allow that to happen again. </p><p>‘She’s in there somewhere!’ he said. He rushed into the darkness of the caverns, Talia and Talon followed. After quite sometime running through a tunnel, the only light coming from their blades, they came to an opening. Leia stood in the middle of a large cavern, illuminated by the white glow of a lampbulb she held in her hand. </p><p>She raised her other hand. Kylo raised his saber in front of him in a guard position, ready for her attack. He felt her using the Force, but not at them. The tunnel behind them collapsed into rubble, trapping them inside the cavern.</p><p>Kylo laughed. ‘You think you’ve blocked us in? We can reopen that tunnel just as easy as you collapsed it, Organa’</p><p>‘I know. I just don’t want any of your minions outside to interfere.’</p><p>Kylo paused. Something felt wrong. ‘Interfere?’</p><p>Rey stepped out of the dark and ignited her saber. A brilliant blue light from the blade illuminated her determined face. It was a trap! Organa wanted Kylo to come down to the planet himself.</p><p> ‘It’s time to end this, Kylo,’ said Rey calmly.</p><p>‘You!’ Kylo spat. ‘You overestimate you own strength, thinking you’ve trapped us in here with you. You can’t take all three of us.’</p><p>‘I’m not alone,’ she said.</p><p>‘I can sense her apprentice, Master. He’s hiding her somewhere in the dark,’ said Talia. </p><p>‘Ah yes. The Dathomiri you told me about. What was his name? Nim? Show yourself boy,’ said Kylo. Nim stepped out of the shadows and stood beside Rey. He looked similar to Talon, albeit much smaller and skinnier. </p><p>‘I sense great darkness within you. Nim,’ said Kylo as he manipulated his mind with the Force. A young apprentice like Nim would have nowhere near the mental strength to resist him. Kylo remembered the confusion and temptation he had faced himself when he was an apprentice himself. He was sure he could bring the boy to the dark side. Just as Snoke had done to him. </p><p>‘Don’t listen to him, Nim!’ said Rey.</p><p>‘Would you not like to see the power of the dark side?’ said Kylo, with a final push of Force manipulation.</p><p>It worked.</p><p>Nim walked over to him and knelt, offering him his lightsaber.</p><p>‘No!’ said Rey, her face in despair.</p><p>Nim looked back at Rey. ‘Trust me, Master. I’ve got it right this time.’ Rey looked at him, as if realising something .Kylo smiled under his helmet, it caused him pain due to the respirator fixed to his mouth but he couldn’t resist. Rey was realising her efforts were useless. Her grand Jedi Order, undone with a few words and some small Force trickery. </p><p>He looked at Nim’s lightsaber. It would poetic to kill her only apprentice with the object that represented the culmination of her training. He pressed the ignition button. </p><p>No blade came out. The hilt began to emit a high pitched whirring sound, vibrating in his hand. He looked up to see Nim running back to Rey. Kylo tried to throw it but it was too late. It exploded in his hand, emitting a burst of bright light and searing heat. He was sent flying back into the wall of the cavern.</p><p>His whole body was on fire. He raised his hand to see the burning stump that was there. With his other hand he took off his melted helmet and patted off the flames.</p><p>‘Now!’ yelled Rey. Out of the dark, multiple lightsabers burst to life and illuminated the cavern in a rainbow of colours. Students dressed in padawan robes stood around the cavern completely encircling them, holding lightsabers of green, blue, yellow, and pink. The colours danced around the walls as they descended upon him.</p><p>*</p><p>Rey stretched her hands to the roof, struggling to keep the cavern up with the Force. The explosion from Nim’s lightsaber had made the cavern unstable. She could either let the cavern collapse and kill them all or hope that her students could finish the injured Kylo off and they could survive. Leia stood beside her, looking on in shock at the battle. A number of her students fought off Talia and Talon. It saddened her to see some already dead on the floor but they hadn’t died without a fight. Numerous slashes scarred the Knights armor and they were visibly limping about.</p><p>Nim had Pulled her lightsaber and fought Kylo Ren himself. Kylo was wounded. The lightsaber bomb had destroyed one of his hands and caused damage to his suit. Kylo pounded angrily with his unstable saber at Nim, but was unable to get past Nim’s guard. Nim looked like the image of the Jedi as he calmly deflected each strike from an enraged Ren, countering with his own strikes which Kylo barely avoided.</p><p>Nim went on the offensive. He fully embraced the Force. With each decisive and measured strike he forced Kylo back, who was clearly wincing from his wounds. Nim ducked a wild strike and swept at Kylo’s legs with his saber, chopping them off and causing Kylo to collapse to the floor.<br/>‘Knights! Kill him!’ screamed Kylo, his broken helmet revealing his true desperate voice.</p><p>Talia and Talon had defeated the other students in the meantime, but they hesitated to help their master. Nim had told them of what really happened to Dathomir. They were clearly questioning their allegiance. They didn’t want to kill another one of their kind. They turned away from Kylo and went at the collapsed entrance with the Force, flinging debris to the side and disappearing into the tunnel and abandoning Kylo.</p><p>‘Traitors!’ spat Kylo. ‘I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!’ </p><p>Dark malicious energy surged from him and he Pushed against the cavern roof she was holding up. The unexpected force caused Rey’s grip on the rock to falter. Showers of loose rock began to fall from the ceiling. A large chunk landed on Nim’s head, knocking him to the floor. Kylo was on him in an instant. He took his saber and rammed the quillon of his cross saber towards Nim’s head. Nim grabbed Kylo’s wrist but he was too late to stop the tip of the fizzling blade from plunging into his eye. Nim yelled in pain.</p><p> Kylo roared and pushed harder, the resistance causing the blade to burn a line up and down Nim’s eye. Nim kneed Kylo in the side, causing him to drop his saber. Kylo slapped Nim with a fist and Nim went unconscious. </p><p>Rey’s shock turned into pure anger. In that moment she felt the pull of something she had never felt before. It was dark and tempting. It promised her that if she listened to it, it would solve all her problems. She raised her hand instinctively, letting go of the roof. All her students were dead. She didn’t care anymore. Her fingertips crackled, ready to unleash destruction.</p><p>‘No!’ yelled Leia. Powerful light side energy flowed out of the general, shaking Rey from her rage. She had never felt something so powerful. The energy grabbed the roof and froze Rey. ‘You cannot succumb to the dark side. I saw your destiny, Rey. He showed it to me. You cannot die here.’</p><p>‘I’ll kill you!’ screamed Kylo, crawling towards Leia.</p><p>Leia lifted Rey and Nim with the Force. Rey was powerless to stop herself floating towards the hidden exit to the cavern, which led back to the hidden Resistance ships which were ready to leave the planet at a moments notice.</p><p> ‘May the Force be with you, Rey. May the Force be with you all.’ said Leia. Rey tried to make out Leia’s face as the floated out of the cavern but her tears were blurring her vision.</p><p>Rey cried out as she watched the cavern collapse on Leia and her son.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Dark Against Light (3/3)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tears streamed down Rey’s face as she sat in the cockpit of the Falcon, quickly zooming past the neutralised Star Destroyers. She had failed. She wasn’t able to save Leia and in her attempt to do so she had gotten her students killed. The only survivor was Nim, who she had left on another Resistance ship in order to get his wounds treated.</p><p>Their makeshift fleet had lifted off as soon as everyone was on board. Leia had hidden a group of ion cannons. Once the First Order efforts were focused on the ground,  the hidden cannons fired at the Star Destroyers and neutralised them, allowing the hidden resistance ships to escape. A lot of leaders escaped but the had lost their General. The heart of the Resistance had died. </p><p>It was time for the Jedi to die too.</p><p>She would go away, like Master Luke did. She pressed controls on the Falcon’s console, relaying the location of Chewbacca and her students to Resistance command. They would be better off without her. Finally, she entered coordinates for a far off planet deep in the Unknown Regions. She would go to Ahch-To as Luke did. But this time, she wouldn’t come back.</p><p>*</p><p>Pain coursed through every inch of Kylo’s body, and just as present as the pain was anger. So much anger. He had been defeated. This time by an apprentice. <br/>Stormtroopers searched through the rubble. He was so deep they would never find him by themselves. He could use the Force to Push himself out. But why should he? Maybe he should let them leave him here. He was beaten yet again. How could he ever beat Rey? Then he remembered his last hope.</p><p> Moraband. </p><p>The place he had sent Rykosh. Power waited for him there. Ancient power. He could surpass the Jedi, he could surpass the Sith. It called to him as he faded out of consciousness.</p><p>He desperately clung onto its call, letting it strengthen him. It was time to become something else. Someone else. Gathering all the Force energy he could, he surged out of the rock.</p><p>THE END OF PART TWO</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The penultimate Part 3 - SON OF DARKNESS/DAUGHTER OF LIGHT starts tomorrow! This is my favourite part of the story. It's the reason why I started writing this. Extremely dark and a lot of cool moments. Stay tuned!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Mourning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>PART THREE - THE SON AND DAUGHTER</p>
<p>The leaders of the Coruscant rebellion and other members of the Core systems were crowded in the meeting room of the rebuilt Intelligence headquarters. Rebuilding was going across the whole planet, but most of the efforts were concentrated in the Core Square, where most of the fighting had taken place. People were calling it ‘Dameron Square’ nowadays, out of respect for the place Resistance hero Poe had died. Finn liked that. Maybe they could make it official by building a statue of him. </p>
<p>‘Alright ladies and gentlemen, lets get started,’ said Finn. ‘The first order of business is—</p>
<p>Half of the meeting room chuckled whilst the other half groaned. Finn’s smiled. For the first time in what felt like ages (even though it was only a year), the First Order wasn’t breathing down their necks. They had been defeated. People could laugh again, even though sometimes they had to be reminded. Through a slow process, maybe they could get rid of war once and for all, and truly usher in peace throughout the galaxy. </p>
<p>‘I think we’ve all had enough of Finn’s lame jokes,’ said Rose, sat next to him. She had obviously been one of the groaners. ‘I’ll take charge of this meeting.’ Some of the more serious and elderly leaders voiced their agreement. </p>
<p>She took a holopad from Finn and cleared her throat. ‘I’ll get straight to the point. We beat the First Order and sent them running. What everyone wants to know is… where are they now? Well, the last time we saw their main fleet, it was above Coruscant. We activated the planetary defense systems and targeted them. We were too late. They hyperspace jumped away. Since then, we haven’t detected anything. Not even news from other planets. They’ve disappeared.’</p>
<p>The meeting room murmured in surprise.</p>
<p>‘Maybe they’ve gone back into the Unknown Regions!’ said Admiral Jilaan, an elderly veteran of the Resistance. The Unknown Regions. The First Order had secret bases and shipyards hidden in the unmapped section of space. That’s where they had emerged from and declared war on the New Republic after years of slow hiding and rebuilding.</p>
<p>‘What’s to stop them coming back in a few years, stronger than before,’ Jilaan continued.</p>
<p>‘Me,’ said Finn. The room fell silent. ‘I know where their bases in the Unknown Regions are. Now is the time we go on the offensive. We go after them. Not giving them any time to recuperate.’</p>
<p>The doors to the room opened and the a flustered officer stormed in. ‘We received a recorded transmission, sir.’</p>
<p>The Resistance received messages all the time from allies across the galaxy. ‘From General Organa?’ asked Finn.</p>
<p>The officer regained her breath. ‘No, sir. From Rey.’</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>The transmission ended and the blue hologram showing a traumatised Rey’s face flickered out. The First Order had attacked the Resistance headquarters on Ajan Kloss. Many fighters and leaders had died in the attack, but the death that hurt the most was the death of General Leia Organa. Rey had told them of her heroic sacrifice, how she saved Rey and her apprentice, entombing Kylo Ren below mountains of rock. </p>
<p>Leia had been the one who had taken Finn in and given him a purpose. Something to fight for. Now she was gone. He fought back tears and replaced the sadness with anger and determination. The First Order still remained, and he wouldn’t stop until every last fragment of the organisation was removed from the galaxy.</p>
<p>The officer spoke up. ‘We have updates on the assaults on the Outer Rim fleets.’</p>
<p>Finn took the initiative and spoke. ‘Let’s hear it.’</p>
<p>‘Their ships have all retreated, sir. As far as our recon can tell,  all First Order influence has been removed from the Outer Rim,’ said the officer, looking around the room hoping to see faces light up. Despite, the good news people were still glum. The loss had been too great.</p>
<p>‘Any ideas on where the Outer Rim fleets retreated too?’ asked Finn. He noticed people were starting to look more engaged.</p>
<p>‘No, sir,’ said the officer.</p>
<p>‘I’m telling you, they went to the Unknown Regions!’ said Jilaan.</p>
<p>‘No. Their attack on Ajan Kloss must mean that they’re not planning on retreating this time. They plan to fight,’ said Finn.</p>
<p>‘Finn’s right,’ said Rose. ‘My guess is that the Outer Rim fleets have reunited with the main fleet above Ajan Kloss.’</p>
<p>‘If that’s so…,’ said the officer, tapping away at her holopad. She stopped typing and her jaw dropped.</p>
<p>‘What is it, officer?’ said Finn.</p>
<p>The predictions of their new fleet size the officer read out made everyone’s jaw drop. </p>
<p>‘It’s a super fleet,’ said Jilaan. </p>
<p>Not just any super fleet, thought Finn. The Superfleet. The last obstacle to overcome for peace in the galaxy.</p>
<p>‘How are we going to beat that!’ said a younger pilot at the back of the room. ‘We don’t even have half as many ships.’</p>
<p>‘Before we discuss this further, we need to establish who the new General is. I think we all know who it should be’</p>
<p>The whole room looked at Finn. </p>
<p>‘Me?’ he said. ‘I cant lead the Resistance!’</p>
<p>‘Why not?’ said Rose. ‘The Coruscant rebellion couldn’t have succeeded without you.’</p>
<p>Finn hesitated. There was always a part of him that didn’t feel like he belonged to the Resistance. He had switched sides. He had faked the identity of being a Resistance soldier to save his own skin. Over time he may have grown to adopt the beliefs of the Resistance but his origins had always nagged at him. ‘You really want to elect a former stormtrooper who’s barely been with the Resistance for over a year?’</p>
<p>The leaders paused as in confusion.</p>
<p>‘Finn, do you know what people think of you?’ said Rose. ‘You’re the stormtrooper who went against the First Order. There are horror stories of the First Order cruelty across the galaxy. Children ripped from their families and brainwashed into soldiers. You gave people hope! That the tyrants can be beaten. Maybe once this is all over there can be rehabilitation of the troopers. The First Order’s brainwashing can be reversed.’ </p>
<p>‘You may not be as famous as Poe, my boy, but you mean something to people,’ said Jilaan. ‘Plus, you have working knowledge of the inner workings of the First Order. It would be invaluable to have someone like you leading the Resistance.’</p>
<p>‘Whats the plan then, General,’ said Rose.</p>
<p>Finn gulped. It would be hard but he did have a few ideas up his sleeve. Rey was out there, he hoped she was doing well wherever she was.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Rey looked out to the horizon of Ahch-To. It was dark and raining. It was just the same as when she had left it. </p>
<p>She held the robe of Luke Skywalker in her hand. This is where he had taken his last breath. In his last moments he had tried to help the Resistance and keep the spark going. He had died entrusting the future of the Jedi to Rey. Rey had failed him. She had let Leia die, the spark had gone out. Because of her, he had died for nothing.</p>
<p>She pulled the robe over her shoulders. It was ragged and torn from a year of being exposed to the elements of the planet. No scent or musk of her master remained. It was damp and cold. She felt like crying but she had no more tears to give. Luke was right. The galaxy did not need anymore Jedi. She would spend the rest of her days here. She would die here.</p>
<p>She looked at the Falcon one last time. The engines had been rewired to feed heat back into itself. She pressed the device, attached by a long wire back to the Falcon. The ship made a ugly roaring sound, like a wounded animal in its death throes. The sound grew louder and louder, becoming almost unbearable.</p>
<p>Suddenly, the ship exploded in a fiery ball of flame. The deafening shockwave shook across the island, throwing Rey to the floor.</p>
<p>She didn’t feel a thing.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Moraband</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The biggest chapter yet... and my favourite part of the story!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo's ship landed on Moraband. The desolate red planet was the homeworld of the Sith. A vast world of mountains and sand. A multitude of ancient wars had left the planet abandoned. Now all that remained were decrepit tombs and monoliths dedicated to the Sith, half buried by the sands. </p><p>Kylo lingered in the cockpit of his ship as the winds outside swept up the red sands in their fury, giving the air a crimson haze. After Pushing his way out of the rubble, he had been taken straight to the medical bay of the Supremacy and refitted with a new suit, more mechanical than before. Somehow he still felt pain through his severed hand, now replaced by a robotic one. Through the eye slit of his new helmet, Kylo could make out the telltale statues and pillars that lined the valley. He had landed in the Valley of the Dark Lords. </p><p>Snoke had spoke of the place with great reverence, almost as if it were sacred. It was shortly after the destruction of Starkiller Base, as Kylo lay in an infirmary bed aboard the Supremacy being tended to medical droids, attending to the injuries he had received during his battle with Rey.</p><p>‘The Valley of the Dark Lords was the last bastion of the Sith before Darth Bane created the Rule of Two,’ Snoke had said. ‘It was the last place the Sith could proudly be in the open, instead of all the slithering in the shadows we have done for the past thousands of years. Though we reap the rewards of Bane’s master plan today, I must say there was a majesty and boldness to the ancient Sith that I do envy. To battle openly against the Jedi in numbers...’’ </p><p>That was the most Kylo could remember anyway. The rest of Snoke’s ramblings had been neglected as Kylo gritted his teeth at the pain of the droids operating on his wounds. He couldn’t recall what had gotten his former master talking about Moraband, but going off on long rambles about ancient Sith history was a common habit of his. Snoke loved to talk, thinking of himself as all-knowing, and that was exactly what had led to his downfall. </p><p>Snoke was dead and so were the Sith. Kylo would not repeat the mistakes of those who came before him. He was here to become something more. His current self wasn't strong enough to defeat Rey. Snoke had offered him a pathway to power but the power of the Sith was not enough. History proved that. He would have to delve deeper into the dark side, unrestricted by the narrow minded Sith ideology. That is why he had come to Moraband, the birthplace of dark side Force wielders. This is where he would be reborn.</p><p>He exited the cockpit and stepped out onto the red sands. The Valley of the Dark Lords was a long and wide strip lined by crumbling statues of ancient Sith, their features eroded by years of harsh winds. At the end of the strip was the entrance of a tomb, a tall triangular slit carved into the side of a mountain. Two colossal statues flanked the entrance, both eroded into featureless humanoid shapes. At the foot of the statues was another ship similar to his own. Rykosh had done well to find this place.</p><p>As he approached the ship, the cockpit opened and a Wookie stepped out. Rykosh was a fierce creature, unique amongst Wookies for his pale silvery fur. A pink scar lined his left eye, which was a misty white colour, standing in stark contrast with his right eye, black as night. </p><p>Rykosh immediately sank to one knee in front of Kylo, his head bowed. The Wookie had been an outlaw, wanted across the Outer Rim for numerous counts of murder, mainly of soldiers, both New Republic and First Order. He had appeared on Kylo’s radar when he brought his crusade of violence into the Core Systems, straight to Coruscant. </p><p>Kylo had heard news of a mass murder in a seedy nightclub in the underbelly of Coruscant. Usually these events were a daily occurence, such places were hideouts of the Coruscant underworld’s many criminal organisations, and violence was considered the norm. However, the state in which the bodies were found was horrifying. </p><p>Kylo himself went to investigate. It made a change from all the bureaucracy and petty politics of his day to day. When he arrived at the nightclub, he discovered that the reports were right. The place looked like something out of a nightmare. People had been mauled to pieces, limbs had been separated from bodies and strewn about the floor. What shocked Kylo the most was how several bodies had been smashed against the walls and ceiling so hard that they were still stuck there, painting the club in a gore of blood and bones. </p><p>Kylo immediately probed the area with the Force and sensed a trace of dark side energy. It had felt different than any other energy he had felt previously. Snoke’s he knew to be refined and focused, channeling rage and using it like a resource. This new energy however was raw and unrestrained. Like a wild animal.</p><p>That was when he realised that the Wookie was a Force wielder and that he had to seek him out. It had been easy to track his presence after that, following the trail of bodies he left behind. After a life or death battle, he had forced Rykosh to submit to him. Once the Wookie realised the gap in power, he had willingly accepted Kylo’s offer to become a Knight of Ren.</p><p>As his most trusted Knight, Kylo has sent Rykosh on a mission to discover the Valley of Dark Lords on Moraband. He could trust Rykosh to do nothing but find it and wait for him to arrive. Who knows what the others would have done at a place of such power.</p><p>'Good work. Rise,’ said Kylo. Rykosh stood. He towered above Kylo considerably. Such a powerful species. It made Kylo wonder how the old Empire had ever managed to capture their homeworld. ‘You weren’t met with any complications I hope?’ </p><p>The Wookiee roared a reply in Shyriwook, his native tongue. Apparently, there had been a few complications. It turned out that a band of Sith acolytes had taken up residence in the tomb. Kylo knew of these sorts. Pathetic individuals who worshipped the Sith. They were usually wealthy noblemen and politicians enthralled by how Dark side users had risen to the highest seat of power in the galaxy. </p><p>Snoke always had a court of them surrounding him aboard the Supremacy like a swarm of insects, constantly buzzing around him attempting to gain his favour. The buzzing had stopped when a nobleman from Naboo overstepped his boundaries with a question concerning Snoke’s scars. Kylo still vividly remembered the piercing blue flash of Force Lightning and the charred remains of the nobleman on the throne room floor. Sometimes he thought he could still smell the fumes of the burned flesh that had seeped into his helmet while he stood there at Snoke’s side. </p><p>The acolytes had probably come here in hopes to gleam any sort of power they could from the ancient tombs. An act of futility for people who were not Force-sensitives. All that was here for them was sand and ruins. </p><p>‘Have you taken care of them?’ asked Kylo. </p><p>No, Rykosh replied with a muted roar.</p><p>Strange, thought Kylo. The Wookiee was usually highly effective. ‘Why?’</p><p>Rykosh recounted what had happened in a series of growls and roars. Upon arriving at the Valley, he had spotted activity outside of the tomb. Figures had rushed inside the tomb at the sight of Rykosh’s ship. He had stepped out and followed them inside. The acolytes made a stand in a large hall and a battle ensued. </p><p>The way he described the bloodshed that followed was almost poetic, there was extreme detail in his descriptions of how he ripped limb from body and imploded ribcages with the Force. It was an unnerving quality about the Wookiee as it starkly contrasted the straightforward way he spoke of things outside of combat. </p><p>Rykosh had killed most of the acolytes, but a few had ran into the tomb proper. He had pursued them but they had retreated behind a colossal stone door which banged shut as he approached. No matter how hard he pushed, with his own strength or the Force, he couldn’t get it to open.<br/>‘Interesting,’ said Kylo. Someone was blocking Rykosh’s Force from affecting the door. ‘I’ll take care of this. You stay here.’ </p><p>He walked towards the tomb entrance, stopping when Rykosh roared in protest. </p><p>He looked back over his shoulder. ‘You did well in finding place and taking out the acolytes but what lies ahead is greater than you. It is something, or someone, I must face alone.’ </p><p>Rykosh stood there impatiently and then walked off to his ship. Kylo could sense his frustration but he knew that Rykosh understood. Kylo knew that the Wookiee had felt something behind that door. Something he knew he couldn’t defeat. Kylo continued walking towards the entrance. Kylo Ren would enter and someone else would walk out. Someone stronger. Someone who would defeat Rey and bring order to the galaxy. <br/>With one last pause, he stepped forward into the tomb.</p><p>*</p><p>The bodies of the Sith acolytes were strewn about the cavern. A mosaic of detached limbs scattered the stone floor of the chamber, slick with dark blood still seeping from the gore. Kylo stepped over the bodies, his boots squelching beneath him. </p><p>This mess was due to the Wookiee’s style of ‘combat’. Instead of using a blaster or a vibroblade, Rykosh preferred to use his hands…and teeth.<br/>Kylo approached the giant stone door at the end of the chamber. He felt a dark force emanating from it, creeping out from the central crack and outer frame of the door like thick tendrils of invisible smoke. It was better to avoid using the Force for now, lest he open himself up even further to whatever lay behind the door. </p><p>He lay his gloved hands on the ancient stone and pushed. It wouldn’t budge. Grunting, he applied all his strength in an attempt to move the stone. It remained still.</p><p>‘B-back in, n-nothing to w-worry about,’ said a mumbling voice to his left. By the time the voice had uttered the last word, Kylo’s lightsaber was already ignited and pointing towards the area it had come from. The sides of the cavern were obscured by shadow. As he stepped forward, the red light of his fizzling blade illuminated the darkness of the cavern’s side, revealing more bodies. </p><p>A woman was sitting amongst the carnage with her back against the wall, looking down at herself. She slowly lifted her head to look at Kylo. ‘J-just p-p-putting it back in,’ she said, smiling weakly. Her belly had been torn open and her guts lay on the floor in front of her. She held a tangle of intestines in her hands, weakly trying to push them back into the gaping wound. </p><p>Kylo looked on in horror. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He knew his enemies would pay the price for opposing him but this was too much. This kind of suffering was barbaric. It was the opposite of the order he wanted to impose on the galaxy. It was chaos. </p><p>Kylo stepped forward and pushed the tip of his lightsaber through the woman’s forehead. The searing plasma easily melted through the bone and plunged into her brain. Her eyes bulged for a second then relaxed, becoming dull and lifeless. There was no need for her to suffer any longer. </p><p>Kylo felt a pang of guilt. This is where you decide to show mercy? It almost made him laugh. Billions had died when Starkiller Base fired upon the planets of the Hosnian system. He had been a part of that. Yet now was the time he decided to feel empathy? </p><p>No, it had been different then. It was necessary in fact. When the superweapon’s beam hit the planets, they had been destroyed instantly. No one suffered. Their pain lasted a split second. A worthy sacrifice to establish the First Order’s dominance of the galaxy, no matter how many lives were lost. </p><p>Now that he was leading the First Order, life would be better for the people of the galaxy. Under the his rule, there would be prosperity. Poverty and crime would be eradicated. He just needed time to prove it. Time the Resistance—or Rey— wouldn’t allow him. That is why they had to be eliminated. That is why he was here in the first place, to find the power to do so.</p><p>He returned to the door, deactivating his lightsaber. He unleashed a wave of Force at the solid stone. It trembled but didn’t show any signs of opening. The dark force behind the door was strong. It’s essence was strangely familiar, like he had encountered it before. </p><p>Kylo pushed aside other thoughts and focused. He focused on his anger. Towards Rey, towards General Organa. Especially towards his former master, Luke Skywalker, whom he harbored the most hatred towards. He let it all bubble to the surface. He channeled it into pure dark side energy and unleashed a Force blast at the door. The ancient stone blocks flew back off its hinges and landed on the floor beyond with a thunderous bang.</p><p>Kylo had nearly flown back himself. It was excessive. He had gotten carried away with himself. A quality about himself that he had vowed to change. He peered into the now empty door frame. The stone doors had landed in a vast hall. It stretched out into darkness as far as he could see. Thick support pillars stood throughout the hall at equal distances, stretching up to the dark roof of the hall. In the middle of the hall was a raised platform where the surviving acolytes stood, their shocked expressions at the broken barrier and Kylo standing in the door frame was visible to him even from the distance. </p><p>They grabbed blasters from under their cloaks and fired upon Kylo. Kylo quickly ignited his lightsaber and parried the blasts as they came. He learned the timing of the shots and began to deflect the lasers back at the acolytes. An acolyte yelled in pain as a blast deflected right into his chest, sinking to the floor in a heap. </p><p>The acolytes stopped shooting for a moment, shocked at the death of their comrade and hesitant to start firing again in fear of the same happening to them. Kylo took the opportunity to close the distance, breaking into a sprint. </p><p>‘You fools! Kill him!’ said the pompous voice of an acolyte. The others came to their senses and resumed firing but it was too late. Kylo had reached the dais. He lashed out at the first acolyte, slicing him in the chest. He ducked a shot aimed for his head and delivered a horizontal swipe to another acolyte’s waist, severing him in half. Two terrified acolytes remained. They both moved to shoot but Kylo threw his lightsaber at one of them. The spinning blade bisected the acolyte but he couldn’t stop the other from pulling the trigger of his blaster. A red bolt of plasma shot out of the weapon and punched Kylo in the shoulder. <br/>Kylo staggered to one knee. His protective tunic had stopped the blast from penetrating but the impact caused his shoulder to throb in pain. The acolyte’s eyes lit up as he readied another shot. Kylo tried Pulling his lightsaber back to him but it wouldn’t arrive in time. The acolyte pressed the trigger and a bolt shot out of the gun, straight towards Kylo.</p><p>It stopped an inch away from Kylo’s head. The blaster bolt fizzled in the air in stasis. Kylo caught the spinning lightsaber flying back to him. The acolyte looked on in horror, her blaster trembling in her hand. Enough was enough. He gripped her throat using the Force. Her blaster dropped to the floor as she clutched at her throat in desperation. Slowly, he pulled her towards him, stopping her a short distance from the suspended blast. It was time for answers.</p><p>‘What were you doing here?’ he said with a vicious rasp, but sounding neutral due to his helmet’s voice alteration.  Her hood had fallen in the chaos revealing a grey-haired woman. Her terrified face was lined with the wrinkles of old age. He slightly eased his grip to allow her to speak.</p><p>‘I-I swore to keep the master’s secret,’ she said with a whimper. </p><p>Master? thought Kylo. What Sith Lord could possibly still linger in shadows? A year ago would have been the perfect time for an enemy in hiding to take advantage of the power vacuum left by Snoke’s death and take control. Kylo found it hard to believe a Sith Lord would be afraid of competing with an inexperienced apprentice who didn’t have the full confidence of his men.</p><p>‘Who is your master?’ said Kylo.</p><p>‘I-I can’t. He’ll kill me’ she gasped. Kylo moved her an inch closer to the suspended blaster bolt.</p><p>‘I’ll kill you. Now answer me.’</p><p>She actually hesitated. As if giving up her master was as bad as what would happen if she didn’t comply. Finally, she raised a finger to point behind her at the sarcophagus. Kylo looked at the thing. It was a rectangular box of pale stone. The lid had a carving of a man on top of it, arms crossed over his chest. The man's stone face was solemn, the closed eyelids had sharp black slits painted over them. Wires and tubes poked out from the sides, plugging into vats of strange liquids and different machinery. Monitors beeped and blinked beside them. </p><p>He didn’t notice all this before due to the fighting. What was going on here?</p><p>‘He is the Undying One,’ said the acolyte. ‘Cheater of death. The greatest Dark Lord of the Sith to ever exist. Bow before him. Pledge your loyalty to him. He will reward his servants well when the Final Day comes. There is no greater gift than the one he promises.’</p><p>‘And what is that gift?’ said Kylo. A newfound fervor gripped her. Her eyes widened as if talking of her master had eradicated her fear.</p><p>‘Foolish boy. You are nothing compared to him. You dared reduce him to this. You will beg for mercy when he returns.’</p><p>‘He won’t,’ said Kylo. He pulled her into the bolt. It pierced into her chest, burning skin and melting flesh. Her body went limp. She didn’t even have a chance to scream. Liquified innards dripped from the smoking hole in her chest onto the floor of the tomb. He released her body and watched it slump to the floor<br/>Her master wouldn't return. He would make sure of it. Igniting his lightsaber, he severed the tubes and wires coming off from the sacrophagus. Pale liquid spurted out of the tubes. Monitors flashed and beeped in alarm. He Pushed the machinery surrounding the stone box, sending it flying back into the darkness of the hall. The beeping stopped.</p><p>In the quietness of the tomb, Kylo realised that the powerful force he had sensed behind the stone door had gone. Was this mysterious ‘master’ responsible for it? Had cutting off the life support of the acolyte’s master killed him? There was only one way to find out. </p><p>Kylo walked over to the sarcophagus and lifted the heavy lid with the Force, throwing it to the side. The inside of the coffin was filled with pale liquid. A body floated to the top. It was a ghastly thing. It seemed like all it’s skin had been stripped off. Kylo lifted it closer with the Force. No. Like the skin hasn’t grown yet. </p><p>It had no eyes, only empty sockets. Half the muscles weren’t there. Kylo realised what the machinery was for. They were regenerating a body. What puzzled Kylo was why they were using the remains of an ancient Sith Lord as a foundation…</p><p>Black smoke erupted from every pore of the corpse. Kylo stumbled back. The smoke rose into the air and descended behind him. He got up and turned to face it. The descending smoke condensed into the outline of a shadowy figure. The smoke dissipated and there stood a hooded figure, cloaked by robes of black. The figure towered over Kylo. </p><p>'My... apprentice,' it said in a sneering tone. </p><p>'No! It can't be!' said Kylo. He stretched out a hand and sent a wave of Force power at the figure. Bodies of the dead acolytes littering the dais were sent hurtling back but the figure was unaffected, his black cloak completely still, unperturbed by Kylo's Force attack.</p><p>A sinister laugh erupted from beneath the hood. The figure moved a gnarled hand over his head and the hood dissolved in a wisp of black smoke, revealing his former master's scarred face twisted into a malevolent grin. </p><p>Snoke had returned.</p>
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<a name="section0027"><h2>27. The Immortal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo remembered killing Snoke. He had felt his master Probing in his mind, reading his intentions. Somehow he managed to trick him into thinking his killing intent was towards Rey instead. He twisted the lightsaber in his hand whilst simultaneously using the Force to twist the lightsaber beside Snoke on his throne. Snoke had been so caught up in his bloodlust that he hadn’t noticed until Kylo ignited the saber and its blue blade pierced through his side, killing him outright.</p><p>However, what stood before him contradicted that. How was Snoke still alive? Kylo had seen his severed body lying dead on the floor of the throne room with his own two eyes. With the destruction of the Supremacy by Holdo’s suicidal hyperspace attack, the body was sure to have been obliterated along with the ship. Yet there Snoke stood, grinning at him.</p><p>‘H-how?’ said Kylo. Delirium gripped him. In his confusion, he let the oppressive aura of the tomb envelop him, weakening his hold on the Force. He felt too weak to act. He didn’t want to. Snoke’s twisted smile widened.</p><p>‘The dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be… unnatural,’ said Snoke. A shiver went up Kylo’s spine.</p><p>It all made sense now. Snoke, the mysterious and sudden leader of the First Order. Kylo had thought he was just another dark side wielder who was waiting for the Rebellion to defeat the Emperor. Now Kylo realised there was more at play. His extreme knowledge of the Sith. His golden ring, etched with ancient runes and housing a shard of obsidian that radiated darkness. Kylo had been too blind to see him for who he really was. Snoke had been a Dark Lord of the Sith in hiding.</p><p>Kylo’s anger swelled. He ignited his saber and rushed forward, charging at Snoke. He launched a downward swing at Snoke, hitting him in his shoulder. The red blade sank through and came out at his hip. Snoke remained standing. Kylo stepped back. A clear gap separated Snoke into two halves, right where he had swung, the edges embroiled in black smoke. The smoke quickly grew until the gap was replaced, reforming into black robe. It was as if Kylo had never even struck him.</p><p>Snoke flicked his hand and Kylo’s saber burst into pieces, clattering onto the floor.</p><p>‘What are you?’ Kylo yelled.</p><p>Snoke laughed. ‘Dead, yet alive. A wraith of sorts,’ he replied.</p><p>A Force ghost? His uncle had told him of how he could commune with dead Jedi. He said that they appeared to him as ghosts. Usually it was his old masters. He recalled one of them. His namesake, Ben Kenobi. But Luke had said it was a light side power. A Jedi became one with the Force as they passed, joining their life energies with the mysterious power. Perhaps if light side users could do it then maybe the dark side had its own way.</p><p>‘You cannot hurt me, Skywalker, but do not think I cannot hurt you!’ said Snoke. The Sith Lord stretched out a gnarled hand and the air rippled between them. Kylo’s felt a crushing force grip his body. It was too powerful to resist. He dropped to his knees, contorting in pain.</p><p>‘Yes, I said Skywalker. “Solo” means nothing,’ said Snoke, lowering his hand. The painful grip remained. ‘The fate of the universe revolves around your meddling bloodline. I think it’s time you learned the truth behind the Skywalker.</p><p>‘My former apprentice used the First Spawn of the Force to finally establish Sith dominion over the galaxy,’ he said as he walked over to the sarcophagus and peered at the half regenerated body within. ‘As the great Darth Bane plotted all those years ago.’ </p><p>He turned back to Kylo. ‘But Sidious was playing with fire, he didn’t realise the power of the light side. The Second Spawn revealed himself twenty years later, trained in hiding by Jedi Master Yoda. He fought against Sidious, ultimately leading to the First’s betrayal and the fall of his empire.</p><p>‘I thought I could do it differently, you see. I turned you to my side, the Third Spawn. I saw the potential of your raw, untamed power and I couldn’t resist. I thought, surely I would not be so blind as to repeat the mistakes of my apprentice.’ </p><p>He walked back into view and stood in front of Kylo, his hate filled eyes staring at Kylo’s through his helmet’s eyeslit. ‘I thought I told you to take that ridiculous thing off,’ said Snoke. Kylo’s head throbbed with an intense pain. His hands went up to his helmet unwillingly. His fingers trembled as he pressed a button on the underside to release the hydraulic clasp. The visor lifted and the helmet became loose, allowing him to take it off. The air of the tomb cooled his sweat covered face. The helmet unnaturally jerked out of his hands and was thrown to the side. </p><p>‘I’m not a “spawn” of the light,’ said Kylo. ‘You yourself called me the Son of Darkness! I am the one who will vanquish the light and finally bring order to the galaxy!’ </p><p>Snoke flicked his gnarled hand and a dagger of pain stabbed into Kylo’s mind in response. He screamed in pain.</p><p>‘Do not make me laugh,’ said Snoke. ‘You forget that I also called you heir apparent to Lord Vader, and in the end Vader turned back to the light. As will you.’</p><p>Kylo froze. ‘W-what?’</p><p>‘You fail to realise that the Skywalker bloodline is an abomination.  In response to my manipulations of the Force to attain immortality, the Force struck back. The Skywalkers are a pendulum created by the Force, cursed to forever oscillate between light and dark in attempt to maintain balance.</p><p>‘Vader turned from light to dark then back again. Luke himself turned to the dark for a split second when he ignited his saber whilst you were sleeping. He eventually turned back to the light when he stood against you on Crait. As the others did, so will you.’</p><p>Kylo shook his head in disbelief. Despite all his efforts, in the end he would lose anyway. Rey would win. The Resistance would win. It wasn’t fair. He had killed his own father in order to forever tie himself to the Dark. It crushed his very soul to do so, but after Rey’s rejection of his offer, and the hard year following it, he thought his resolve had hardened. He even ended up killing his mother.</p><p>He thought he was ready, but apparently it was all a lie. His head throbbed in pain, but this time, Snoke wasn’t the one causing it. No. He would prove him wrong. However, in order to do that, he would have to escape first. </p><p>Kylo was completely under the grip of Snoke. He couldn’t damage him physically, nor could he use the Force on him. His power was too great. It didn’t make sense. How could Snoke be more powerful than when he had a physical body? There had to be some sort of weakness. Some downside to losing your physical body and morphing your soul into a wraith. He would have to buy time in order to find out.</p><p>‘What is Rey then, a Fourth Spawn?’ asked Kylo. The question made Snoke pause. Kylo took the opportunity to subtly probe at Snoke with the Force. He seemed to be real. Something of him was physically here, but his invulnerability to physical attacks said otherwise. He was a Force wraith, dark side energy that had refused to pass on and still permeated the energy field that was the Force. </p><p><em>If only there was a way to sever Snoke’s connection to the living world</em>, pondered Kylo. <em>Somehow push him back into whatever world existed after death.</em></p><p>‘I do not know,’ said Snoke. ‘I ordered you to kill her because I sensed she is a threat. Her power is too great. I have no idea what could have led to the creation of someone so strong in the Force to rival even the Skywalker bloodline. She’s something else entirely.’</p><p><em>I told her she was a nobody</em>, thought Kylo, recalling his confrontation with her on the Supremacy. That’s what he had seen when they had Force Bonded a year earlier. Junkers leaving their daughter on Jakku. He had felt child Rey’s anguish as she watched her parent’s ship leave the planet. Maybe there was something he missed. Some memory hidden deep within Rey, that not even he could see. </p><p>
  <em>Focus on Snoke! </em>
</p><p>Kylo snapped out of his memories and concentrated on Snoke. There were holes in him of almost microscopic size. Tears throughout his being. What remained of his soul clung together desperately. If those tears could somehow be exploited...</p><p>Kylo stopped resisting the vice-like grip Snoke had on his mind and embraced it. Cold tendrils of dark energy bore into his brain, almost making him collapse in pain. He pushed through it, and focused his strength into the hundreds of tears in Snoke’s being. He tried to visualise it in his mind. A million tiny needles of Force pushing into Snoke. He concentrated and tried to widen them.<br/>Snoke’s face contorted in anger as he tried to defend against Kylo’s assault. It was working. Considerable effort showed up on Snoke’s face. He let go of Kylo’s mind and put all his effort into keeping his being together. </p><p>Kylo rose to his feet. Beads of sweat ran down his face. He had never focused the Force in such an intricate way before, channeling so much power to so many small points. He stopped. He couldn’t widen the tears anymore, he was using his full power.</p><p>‘You dare attempt to destroy me?’ he yelled. ‘A rabid cur such as you dares test his might against the greatest Sith Lord to ever live? I am Darth Plagueis the Immortal! You cannot kill me!’</p><p>Thes of the tears grew stable and Snoke started to replace his grip on Kylo’s mind. Pain surged through Kylo.</p><p><em>I can’t beat him! I’m not strong enough</em>, thought Kylo. Emotions swirled within him. New emotions, besides the hatred and anger had grown accustomed to relying on. There were glimmers of something. Something he had tried his hardest to repress. A deep calmness. A tranquility of sorts. The light side of the Force. It stayed in it’s hidden corner of Kylo’s mind. It was usually a dull light amongst the darkness that he was used to, but right now it shone like a dazzling star in the night sky. Tempting him to the light.</p><p>He saw no other way. He tapped into the light.</p><p>Calmness enveloped him.</p><p>‘Ben,’ said a calm voice in his head. A strange voice that he had never heard before yet sounded familiar. ‘Embrace the Light.’</p><p>He widened the needles of Force piercing into Snoke, amplified by the light side energy.</p><p>‘If I’m going, I’m taking you with me!’ howled Snoke. He faded into smoke and pulled Kylo into the darkness. </p>
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<a name="section0028"><h2>28. Son of Darkness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo opened his eyes to an endless plain of black dirt and crimson red sky. He wasn’t wearing his helmet or suit anymore, instead wearing a simple gray robe. He was able to breath unassisted. No part of his body was injured suprisingly. It was obvious he wasn’t in the living world any more.</p><p>Was he dead?</p><p>It didn’t matter. He saw Snoke standing in front of him, in shock at what he managed to do.<br/>Kylo rushed over to him and gripped his throat. This place was a realm of dark side energy, of dead things. He felt the power difference between him and Snoke. He wasn’t supposed to be here; a powerful living being in a realm of death. </p><p>‘My apprentice, please,’ pleaded Snoke. ‘I can teach you— </p><p>Kylo squeezed, channeling his new light side Force energy through his hand and into Snoke. His former master thrashed around, desperate to be free. His wrinkled skin started breaking, bright light shining from the cracks. Snoke’s eyes and mouth emitting the same light. In a flash, the dark lord evaporated into wisps of smoke and dust, disappearing in Kylo’s grip.</p><p>Snoke was gone. Forever.</p><p>Suddenly, a blue form appeared in front of him, starkly contrasting the dark background. It materialised into the figure of Luke Skywalker.</p><p>‘They’ll come for you now,’ said Luke with a ghostly effect to his voice. ‘They’ll be attracted to the light side energy and come to destroy it.’</p><p>‘Who will?’ asked Kylo.</p><p>‘The folks who live here,’ he replied. ‘Well, “live” is the wrong word I guess.’</p><p>‘The fact that I’m seeing you…what— am I redeemed now?’ asked Kylo.</p><p>Luke paused. ‘No… It will take a lifetime of repentance for you to redeem yourself. However it does mean that you haven’t cut yourself off from the light. There’s still hope, Ben.’</p><p>‘I killed my father! I caused my mother’s death! There is no hope.’</p><p>‘My father did much worse. Your grandfather. Anakin Skywalker.’</p><p>‘Darth Vader was one of the greatest Sith Lords who ever lived! He succumbed to the light in a moment of weakness, because of your Jedi trickery!’</p><p>‘No, Ben. It was all him. The Emperor was killing me. He stopped him, by his own choice. He sacrificed himself to save me. In that moment…he was redeemed.’</p><p>Kylo noticed the hesitation. ‘You doubt what you just said.’</p><p>‘After the battle, I saw him beside the force ghosts of my masters, but only briefly. I never saw him again. In this form, I cannot feel his presence within the light side of the Force.’</p><p>‘So he’s not part of the dark or light. Is that my fate if I return to the light? I’ll disappear into nothing?’ said Kylo. He looked beyond Luke to see the black sands in the distance being swept up into a colossal sandstor. It was coming closer at an alarming pace.</p><p>‘I don’t know,’ said Luke. ‘But you have to— </p><p>Useless. Kylo stopped pulling from the light side of the Force and Luke disappeared. There was no hope anymore. He was all alone in the Sith afterlife with darkness coming to consume him. He had tried to restore order to the galaxy but in the end he had failed. He sank to his knees in defeat as the oncoming storm of black smoke surrounded him.</p><p>There was no pain. He had expected sudden death or at least an agonising pain but he remained there untouched. He lifted his head to discover that he was no longer alone. Hundreds of shadowy cloaked figures surrounded him. They were of many different species, however the one unifying feature was their sinister yellow eyes gleaming under their hoods. </p><p>One man came stepped forward out of the crowd and peered down at Kylo. He was imposing and tall. Black armor covered him with a hooded cloak obscuring his face in shadow. He raised gauntleted hands up to his hood, lowered it to reveal a face Kylo recognised. The face of the man carved on the sarcophaus. Black points were tattooed on his eyelids, and he had the same hard face. </p><p>He was a Sith Lord. They all were.</p><p>‘Young Skywalker, how we have waited for this moment,’ said the man in a deep voice. Kylo rose to his feet and looked around, they were all staring at him.</p><p>‘Who are you?’ Kylo asked.</p><p>‘I am Darth Bane,’ said the man. ‘ Around you stands every Sith that has ever existed. From the proud race who first wielded the dark side, to the warriors who fought in clans of ten thousand strong, to the Sith who hid in the shadows after my introduction of the Rule of Two. We are your ancestors, Skywalker.’</p><p>‘I’m not going to let you consume me,’ said Kylo, ready to tap into the light. ‘Snoke—Plagueis, tried and now he’s dead. He’s gone forever.’</p><p>Some of the Sith shuffled back in fear. Bane smiled. ‘Yes, we sensed the light. A bright stain shining like a beacon in this realm of darkness. But we do not come to cause you harm. We have come to help you.’</p><p>‘Help me?’</p><p>‘The very thing you threaten us with is what you yearn to be free of. A battle rages within you, Skywalker. The light clashes with the dark. Every attempt you make to get rid of the light only emboldens it. It is in your nature as a Spawn of the Force, cursed to constantly balance both sides.’ He paused. ‘What if I told you there is a way to win that battle? To fully embrace the dark side as we all did.’</p><p>To fully embrace the dark side? Kylo thought of all the times he had hesitated to do what was necessary. If he faced Rey again, would the same thing happen? Would the light meddle with his mind and manipulate him to hesitate again? He had to get rid of it, but he doubted these wraiths. They would look for anyway to be free of this place, and that would include taking advantage of him. ‘How is that possible?’ he asked.</p><p>‘The Force strives to remain in balance,’ said Bane. ‘Due to sentient beings being able to manipulate it, the balance can easily become disrupted. The Force counteracted this by electing a triad. Three force wielders to keep the balance. The Daughter, the Son and the Father.</p><p>‘The Daughter was the champion of the Light, the Son the champion of the Dark and the Father kept the two in balance. The Father, after millennia of engaging in such a strenous task, became close to death. In his desperation to find a replacement for himself, he attempted to get Darth Vader to replace him.’</p><p>The Sith hissed and jeered at the mention of Vader. ‘Betrayer!’ yelled a hunched-over hooded figure standing next to Bane.</p><p>Bane continued. ‘Vader rejected him, and incidentally led to the death of all three. Since then, there has been no balance. The galaxy drastically fluctuates between light and dark. My Rule of Two finally came to fruition and a Sith Lord ruled the galaxy.’ He looked to the figure at his side. </p><p><em>It couldn’t be</em>, thought Kylo. <em>Palpatine?</em> </p><p>‘Within 20 years he was overthrown by the forces of light,’ said Bane. ‘Now again, a dark side user ruled. Kylo Ren. And again, he has been deposed from his seat of power.’</p><p>‘What is your point?’ said an irritated Kylo.</p><p>‘My point is, the dead triad still needs replacing. You will be unable to take the place of the Daughter or the Father, but the power of the Son is there for the taking.’</p><p>‘Yes…the unlimited power of the dark side, with nothing to oppose it,’ cackled Palpatine.</p><p>Kylo didn’t understand. Altruism wasn’t a thing the Sith were known for, especially long dead wraiths with nothing to gain. ‘What’s in it for you. Why do you want me to have all this power?</p><p>‘Why, young Skywalker, the only thing we wish for is to see the Jedi vanquished for good and for the Sith to rule the galaxy forever,’ said Bane wryly<br/>The Sith laughed.</p><p><em>And for the Sith to rule the galaxy</em>, thought Kylo. Taking the role of the Son would give him the full power to the dark side. Snoke was just a powerful dark side user and he was able to resurrect himself. With full access to the dark side he would be able to unimaginable things. He would be able to resurrect not just one person, but all the Sith. </p><p>‘You want me to free you?’ asked Kylo. Bane smiled widened in response. It made Kylo shudder. A horde of Sith Wraiths let loose across the galaxy. The damage would be immense. There would be no order, it would be pure chaos. ‘You must think me a fool! You would destroy my empire!’</p><p><br/>‘Quite the opposite in fact,’ said Bane. ‘You would be the one to bring our souls into the living realm, therefore you would have complete control over us. Think of that. An army of Sith, obedient to your command.’</p><p><br/>Kylo thought about it. No one would be able to stand in his way. They would be invulnerable to blaster fire, lightsabers, anything. Immortal soldiers. The whole galaxy would bow before him.</p><p>‘What must I do to gain this power.’</p><p>‘Come with us,’ said Bane, placing a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t even have time to scream when his body turned to smoke.</p><p>*</p><p>Kylo materialised in front of a vast wall. The Sith stood behind him, all gazing at the wall. Strange red plants grew on the black sands beneath it. Some of the red growth even grew up the vast structure. Kylo felt a darkness emanating from behind it, even darker than this realm.</p><p>‘Beyond that wall lies the realm of Mortis,’ said Bane.</p><p>‘Why is it so dark?’ said Kylo. ‘I thought both light and dark were equal there.’</p><p>‘Mortis is the center of the Force. This afterlife borders the half of the realm which belongs to the Son. The other half belongs to the Daughter.’</p><p>A red-skinned Sith with strange piercings spat on the ground at the mention of her name, mumbling something in an ancient language.</p><p>‘How do I get in there?’ asked Kylo.</p><p>‘You can’t enter from this afterlife. You must enter from the living world,’ said Bane. ‘Touch the wall.’</p><p>Kylo obliged, walking up to the wall and placing both hands on it. The coldness of the stone seeped through his hands like some vile liquid. It was true dark side energy, unfiltered and unrestricted. He recoiled back, hands leaving the wall. He still felt its presence even though he wasn’t touching it anymore.</p><p>‘Now you know its energy,’ said Bane. ‘When you are back in the realm of the living, seek out its trace.’</p><p>‘It can’t be that simple. What about Rey? What is stopping her from defeating me again? I’m not strong enough.’</p><p>‘Pull all the dark energy you can from the wall and leave. It will give you only a small amount of the Son’s full power, but it will be enough to handle the puny Jedi girl.’</p><p>Kylo put his hands on the wall again, fighting against the need to pull his hands away. It was the light within him that was making him recoil. He needed to kill it. He pulled on the ocean of dark energy behind the wall and let it fill him until he was going to burst. The darkness crept into his being, stabbing tendrils into the light that remained. His face burned and his eyes seethed with a stabbing pain, yet he continued to pull. It wasn’t enough. The light remained. He felt like he was going to burn up as the dark side piercing his every cell, unable to kill the light.</p><p>Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see the gauntlet of Darth Bane. Black tendrils of smoke-like shadow swarmed from the Sith Lord’s back like a shredded cloak blowing in the wind. Each tendril branched off and connected to the chest of a Sith in the crowd. He felt their presences enter him, helping him push against the light. </p><p>All their fury at the light raged inside him. Their memories flashed in his head. He saw a Sith clashing sabers with a Jedi as his brothers and sisters fell beside him.  He saw another Sith hiding in the shadows alone, pathetically scheming for power when she should have people bowing at her feet. </p><p>It all helped him. He gathered their added energy and with a final push, the light was finally vanquished. Kylo was startled by its absence. It had been with him his entire live and now it wasn’t.</p><p>‘For the dark side,’ said Bane as Kylo’s vision slowly faded to black.</p><p>‘For the dark side,’ said Kylo. Then he was gone.</p><p>*</p><p>Kylo woke to find himself on the floor of the tomb. Black strands of glistening wet hair obscured his vision, wiping it to the side he looked around. The place was as he had left it. The bodies of the cultists still lay on the floor and the sarcophagus lay open. Snoke was gone. That he knew for sure.</p><p>A latentd lay around the tomb, though not nearly as strong as before. It must have been just the aura of the planet. </p><p>
  <em>Wait. Hair?</em>
</p><p>Kylo felt the mass of hair on his head. It had grown back. He felt his skin was smooth as well. His muscles didn’t ache and he could breath just fine without his helmet. He tore at his suit and took it off, flexing his muscles as he freed himself from the restrictive contraption. Surprisingly,  there were no burn marks on his body. His skin was completely smooth.</p><p> He felt a strong power within him. He had never felt this good—and this was only a trickle of the Son’s power. He shuddered to think how powerful he would be if he had all of it.</p><p>A crimson kyber crystal shimmered on the ground amongst the broken parts of his lightsaber. He knelt down and picked it up. A crack ran down the middle of the crystal—the cause of it’s unstable blade. He remembered making it bleed, pouring his dark side energy into it. Back then he was conflicted, and the crystal was a reflection of that. </p><p>He focused his new energy into it. A torrent of energy flooded into the crystal. It pulsed and ebbed with power. Black flecks of shadow swarmed like a blizzard inside the crystal. The crimson turned black and the crack somehow healed. He now held a crystal which was pure black, occasionally pulsing with red flecks of light. </p><p>Using the Force, he lifted the parts of the lightsaber on the floor and spun them around the crystal. They orbited the crystal like a strange orrery. Slowly he rebuilt the lightsaber, connected the intricate parts with the crystal at its heart. </p><p>Finally, he held a new lightsaber in his hand. It was a sleek thing, this time with no quillons to act as vents for an unstable crystal. Only one single blade, for one single purpose. To destroy the light side of the Force.</p><p>He pressed the ignition. A black blade seeped out of the hilt and red energy coiled around the surface of it like a storm.</p><p>He walked out of the tomb and headed for his ship. He headed for Mortis.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. Daughter of Light</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was the dead of night, and Rey couldn’t sleep. A meager fire burning in the middle of the hut wasn’t enough to warm her. Thoughts of her failure kept her up. Whenever she shut her eyes she saw the events of the cavern, her Jedi Order lying dead and scattered. Nim being brutalised by Kylo. She even feared going to sleep, afraid that she would have dreams of that strange temple again.</p><p>She got up and put Luke’s cloak on, heading out of the hut to the cliff where Luke died. She sat there and meditated. It had to end. She had to cut herself off from the Force. She wasn’t anything special. She couldn't save anybody. Cutting herself off is what would make the nightmares end. </p><p>Exploring her connection to the Force, she began building mental barriers against it. As the flow of energy cut off from her, she felt the warmth of it leave her. She grew colder and colder in the rain. Truly alone. Tears shed down her face.</p><p>‘I’m sorry, Luke,’ she said. ‘I failed you.’</p><p>She could only feel a hint of the Force now. She went to place the last barrier.</p><p>‘Stop!’ said a voice. Rey jumped to her feet and jerked her body around. Luke stood there in a ghostly blue form. He was there. She ran to him, going to embrace him but her hands sank through his blue body and she fell to the other side. </p><p>Luke looked at her with a forlorn look on his face.</p><p>‘What are you?’ said Rey. </p><p>‘It’s me, Rey. It’s Luke’ he said.</p><p>Rey thought of the past year. All the time she spent struggling to train her Jedi. ‘Why are you just showing up now?’ she demanded. ‘I needed you and now you’re telling me you could just show up?’</p><p>‘We couldn’t find each other, Rey,’ said Luke. ‘You forget we only knew each other for such a short time.’</p><p>‘Leia is dead, Luke,’ cried Rey. ‘My Jedi Order is ruined. I failed you.’</p><p>‘There is still hope,’ he said. ‘There is always hope.’</p><p>‘Not this time.’</p><p>He suddenly jerked forward, pressing his hands to her shoulders. Somehow they felt solid. Before she could even react, he pushed her back. She stumbled back and her foot slipped, sending her tumbling off the cliff. She looked up at his ghostly face as she plummeted into violent waters of Ahch-To.</p><p>*</p><p>Rey opened her eyes to the disturbed planet she had seen so many times before. Mortis. She stood on the same cliff, as the the lush green flora fought against the decaying sickly red in the valley below. The same temple was on the peak of the mountain at the end of the valley, however this time it was glowing. Luke appeared next to her. </p><p>‘Why have you brought me here?’ said Rey.</p><p>‘This is the most important place in the galaxy, Rey. The center of the Force. Mortis. Here is where light fights against dark,’ said Luke.</p><p>‘You didn’t answer my question.’</p><p>‘There exists a triad in the Force. Once there were three Force sensitive beings. One of the dark. One of the Light and one to balance them both. I brought you here because I figured out who you are, Rey. You are the Daughter, the champion of the light.’</p><p>The Daughter? It couldn’t be. She was just an orphan from Jakku, discarded by her parents for drinking money.</p><p>‘You must go to Mortis,’ said Luke, ‘Figure how to take up her position. Kylo is after the position of the Son. He already has a taste of its power.’</p><p>‘I can’t do it. I’ll just fail again,’ said Rey.</p><p>‘No, Rey. You are the last hope!'</p><p>‘I don’t want to be!’</p><p>She turned and ran away from Luke. She couldn’t bear to face him. The world went black.</p><p>*</p><p>Icy water flooded around Rey. She flailed about, trying to swim to the surface but the strong currents of Ahch-To pulled her deeper. She would die here. A failure. Why was she thrashing around? That’s what she came here to do didn’t she? To die. Air bubbles surged out of her lungs and water flooded in. She couldn’t breathe. </p><p>She sank all the way down. Through her fading blurry eyesight she saw a structure on the sea floor next to her. It was Luke’s X-Wing. Algae and sea growth covered the sunken ship. Luke had thrown it into the sea when he came here to die, just like how she destroyed the Falcon and planned to do the same. She fought against the struggle to go unconscious. </p><p>Thoughts and emotions flicked through her mind in a flash. Luke had changed his mind. He used his power to save the Resistance. He looked past the low odds yet gave his life anyway. Maybe she was being too pessimistic. Nim wasn’t dead, he was just injured. Even though she had seen some of her students die, most of them ran after the two Knights that were there, maybe they were still alive. It was true that Leia died, but the spark wasn’t out. She had always said that she wasn’t the spark. The Resistance held the Core planets, and even though the headquarters was destroyed. They were still in the fight.</p><p>She had to try. She had to give her all. The fight was much bigger than her. She felt her hand close around the smooth metal of a lightsaber.</p><p>Luke’s saber! Gripping it, she used the force to shoot upwards towards the surface. She shot out of the water and grabbed the edge of the cliff.W</p><p>Withe she pulled herself over and rolled onto solid ground. The sun rose over the horizon of Ahch-To. Despite being drenched in icy water, the warmth from the suns rays flooded her body. She rose to her feet.</p><p> She knew what she had to do. Wielding the Force with a newfound strength, she pulled at the submerged X-wing below the depths. Slowly, it raised out of the water, still dripping and draining from years in the water. She set it on the side of the hill and ran towards it. It would take some time to get it back in working order, she might as well get right to it.</p>
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<a name="section0030"><h2>30. Knight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kylo walked towards the entrance of the tomb. He saw the red glow of the sands outside. Rykosh should be waiting for him outside. Even the stoic Wookie would be suprised at the state Kylo would walk out in; he had not usually seen his master without the helmet on… or shirtless. They would set off for the First Order fleet immediately. He could go straight to Mortis but he was wary of Rey. If he knew about the Son then she would surely know about the daughter. His plans would be stopped if he showed up to Mortis in his puny TIE fighter to see the full might of the Resistance fleets parked outside, ready to blast him into dust.</p><p>No, he would go back to the First Order. Organise them to defend Mortis at all costs. Once he had the power of the Son, he wouldn’t need the Order anymore. From the power he felt on the other side of the wall, he would be able to level whole planets. The thought of it excited him.</p><p>He walked out into the sands of Moraband and froze. Rykosh lay on the floor, dead. Talia and Talon stood over his dismembered corpse, their lightsabers glowing red.</p><p>‘You lied to us! You said the Jedi killed our people, when it was actually the Sith! We-’</p><p>Kylo didn’t wait for her to finish. He Dashed forward, his new power making him move quicker than he ever could. Before Talon could even react, Kylo was in front of him, gripping his face. He channeled the flood of dark energy within him out of his hand and Talon’s head exploded. A shower of blood fell all around them, painting Kylo’s skin a dark red color. Kylo wiped the blood from his face and started towards Talia.</p><p>The witch was too shocked to move. Kylo raised his hand at her head, aiming to do the same to her. She shook herself then and ducked and rolled towards Kylo instead of away from him. Kylo quickly pushed off the ground to his left and pushed himself to the side but the tip of Talia’s horizontal slash nicked his shin. He winced at the pain when he landed, kneeling on the floor.</p><p>Talia was right in front of him. He sent out a wide wave of Force energy, sending the sands flying as it surged towards her. She jumped over it and in midair threw her lightsaber at him. He barely ignited his own darksaber to meet the projectile blade and parried it away. Talia landed and summoned her saber back to her.</p><p>Kylo slowly got to his feet, the pain from the cut was a distant memory. He held his weapon in a guard position in front of him, Talia doing the same with her saber. A saber duel then. He would oblige her. When he had her begging for mercy in front of her, he would slowly cut off limbs, just as they had done to Rykosh. He looked at Rykosh’s body in the sands, his face was contorted in pain. Uncontrollable anger swelled in him and he Dashed towards his opponent.</p><p>Their sabers clashed, black against red. Talia was enhancing her movement with the Force herself. Somehow she was strong enough to keep up with Kylo. Each brutal strike of his was deflected by an agile parry by her. She kept moving backwards. She was weakening. He pushed after, increasing the ferocity of his swings. They had circled back around to Talon’s body. He nearly made her trip over her brother, but she quickly noticed and stepped over. Kylo stepped over it too.</p><p>She abruptly stopped. He was shocked to see her smiling. A green glow enveloped her like a mist and her eyes glowed green. Kylo didn’t recognise her energy. It was powerful and dark but unfamiliar. He sensed a sudden movement behind him but he was too late to stop heavy arms going under his arms and wrapping up back around his neck. Talon was alive and had him in a lock position.</p><p>That’s impossible! Thought Kylo. A green glow envelopedthe arms. He felt disgust as the thought of a headless corpse being reanimated and embracing him.</p><p>‘Dear brother, you will help me in death to get revenge for the Dathomiri people. I, Talia, the last Nightsister, shall slay the last Sith, and justice will have been served,’ said Talia.</p><p>No! It can’t end here. A Sith lord killed by his apprentices. He was supposed to be different. He was supposed to be the one who would end it all. He pulled on all the power he had left but he couldn’t free himself from the sorcerous grip of the corpes. Talia raised her saber and swung it at Kylo.</p><p>‘NO!’ he roared, releasing everything he had. A maelstrom of lightning erupted from ever pore of his body, lashing outwards. Talon’s corpse melted and vaporised behind him. Talia was sent back flying.</p><p>Kylo sank to the floor in exhaustion. He panted to get his breath back. He had learned the power of Force Lightning, but the cost was great. It tired him too much. He would have to use it in battle conservatively.</p><p>The surrounding area was a blackened smoking mess. Nothing remained of Talon, and Rykosh’s body was reduced to blackened chunks on the floor. He stood to hobble back to the ship but he remembered Talia. He turned towards the direction in which she had been sent back and walked that way. A while of walking and he reached the top of a sand dune. In at the bottom of the dune lay Talia’s smoking body. He approached the body. He noted the rise and fall of the burnt body’s chest. She was still alive.</p><p>Talia looked at him with pleading eyes. Begging for life, begging for death? It didn’t matter. He had made her a promise. He ignited his saber and got started.</p><p>THE END OF PART THREE</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>unfortunately this will be the last chapter, my files got corrupted and the last part is gone. ill add a lil synopsis of how it ends in the next chapter</p>
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<a name="section0031"><h2>31. The Ending</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>PART FOUR - THE END OF THE FORCE</p><p>Rey reunites with Finn and Rose on Coruscant. She informs them of her destiny on Mortis and they agree to gather their fleets and escort her.</p><p>Meanwhile, Kylo returns to the First Order fleet, now led by Supreme Leader Pryde, who refuses to let Kylo aboard. He uses his new power to freeze the blasts that would have destroyed him and infiltrate the Chimaera, ending in him beheading Pryde and retaking the role of Supreme Leader.</p><p>His first act is to head towards Mortis, intructing the fleet to guard the mysterious portal to the realm. Once on Mortis, he takes the power of the Son. He then exits Mortis to see the Resistance fleet assaulting the First Order. With a swipe of his hand, he drags the Sith Wraiths into the living realm and makes them attack the Resistance. A massacre ensues. However, Kylo senses a disturbance in Mortis. He looks at the portal to see a ship enter it. Luke's X-Wing.</p><p>Rey arrives on Mortis. Before she can take the power of the Daughter, Kylo stops her. She swings her lightsaber at him but he catches it with his bare hand. Kylo is too powerful for her. It seems all is lost. Just as Kylo is about to plunge his darksaber into her, a Jedi appears and saves her. The world goes white.</p><p>Rey opens her eyes to a blank white realm. Kylo is on his knees, chained by a white energy. The Jedi is standing there, looking at her. He is the same Jedi from her dreams. He reveals himself to be Anakin Skywalker, finally achieving his destiny as the Chosen One and taking the role of the Father. Together they would restore balance to the Force by imprisoning Kylo, removing him from the galaxy. However, Rey disagrees. She looks at Kylo and thinks of how close he was to destroying the galaxy. She proposes another way to restore balance. </p><p>Remove the Force from the galaxy. Stop it from being used by sentient beings. That way it could still flow through every living thing but would not be able to be manipulated. Anakin agrees and they do just that. Rey smiles as she realises despite all that has happened, it was her destiny to be with Kylo forever.</p><p>Years pass. Finn is sat on a bench in a park on Coruscant. The park is known as Dameron Square, a place built where the Quarters building where Poe died used to stand. A tear runs down his cheek as he recalls the heroes who saved the galaxy. He looks up at the statues of Rey, Poe and Leia in the centre of the park. They did. They finally ended the Star Wars.</p><p>THE END.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>thank you for reading</p>
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